Ultimate Table Tennis: Format, squads, fixtures – what you need to know about UTT Season 4

After four years, Ultimate Table Tennis will return for its fourth season and is scheduled to be held at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune from July 13 to 30. The franchise-based league will be conducted under the auspices of the International Table Tennis Federation, as informed by the organisers.

The first edition of UTT was held in 2017, won by the defunct Falcons TTC while the defending champions are currently Chennai Lions, who are led by veteran Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal.

Bengaluru Smashers, led by 2018 Commonwealth Games medallist Manika Batra, is the newest team in the league.

Here’s what you need to know about the returning league, including the format, live broadcast, and squads:

Tournament format

All six teams have been placed in a single group and will play each other once, in a league fixture called a ‘tie’.

A tie comprises five matches – men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles, men’s singles, women’s singles, in that order.

One match is made up of three games and therefore, each tie will consist of 15 games in total.

Each game shall have players competing with each other to score 11 points first, meaning in the event that scores are level at 10-all, then the 11th point will be a Golden Point and shall...

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