CHENNAI: The Nehru Indoor Stadium here lay witness as table tennis in the country finally entered the league bandwagon, a route taken by almost all other sports in order to pique the interest of the general public.
And it was probably destiny that local hero A Sharath Kamal, India’s top ranked paddler set the ball rolling.
The first match of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) saw Falcons TTC which includes Indian star Sanil Shetty and women’s World No 13 Wu Yang beating Sharath’s team RP-SG Mavericks 15-12 on Thursday.
It was after a long time that Sharath was playing in front of his home crowd. And the crowd was clearly behind the World No 43 star. Shouts of ‘Sharath Anna’ could be heard after each point that the 35-year-old won. On a personal level, however, it was not the best of days for the 2006 CWG gold medallist. He lost both his singles and mixed doubles match-ups.
“No excuses for the loss. Par Gerell was the superior player. I had my chances but giving up a 2-point advantage in the final game proved costly,” Sharath said after the match.
Incidentally, Gerell was the star for the Falcons as he beat Tiago Apolonia to ensure overall victory.
However, since points are awarded on the basis of games won instead of ties, both teams went all out even in instances where they lost two games on the trot. And Sharath continued to support his team from the sidelines as he and coach Peter Engel went up to the players and kept on offering tips.
According to most players, the format is something that will take a time to get used to.
There are no time-offs and play has to resume within 10 seconds or else a foul will be called.
These are in order to keep the sport TV friendly and to keep it short and exciting.
“After long rallies, it can get a bit taxing. However, we need to follow the rules and I’m sure all the players will get the hang of it in the coming days,” Sharath added.
Since Indian players are having to play with foreign stars in mixed doubles as well as against foreigners in singles, combination play becomes important and all teams will take lessons back from the first day’s action.
The league’s promoters 11Even Sports have decided to keep entry free for the public. The first day saw one part of the stadium full. The organisers are hopeful that with continuous promotion and good word of mouth, people will start flocking.
“The league will be in the city till July 20. It’s a new league and the people will take time to warm up to it. I’m sure the public will come,” UTT co-promoter and former national champion Niraj Bajaj said.
Earlier, five-time world chess champ Viswanathan Anand was the chief guest at the inaugural function. Also present was Vita Dani, Chairperson of 11 Even Sports.
Scores: Par Gerell bt A Sharath Kamal (RP-SG) 2-1; Sabine Winter (RP-SG) bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 3-0; Lee Ho Ching/Sanil Shetty (Falcons) bt Sofia Polcanova/Sharath Kamal 2-1; Fegerl Stefan bt Liam Pitchford (Falcons) 2-1; Wu Yang (Falcons) bt Sabine Winter 3-0; Sanil Shetty (Falcons) bt Tiago Apolonia 2-1; Wu Yang bt Archana Girish Kamath 3-0; Par Gerell bt Tiago Apolonia 2-1; Sofia Polcanova bt Lee Ching 3-0. Result: Falcons 15-12 RP-SG.