Defending champions Falcons TTC chose to go with their winning coach for the second edition of the CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis League, opting for Soumyadeep Roy in the draft pick for coaches here on Monday. The high-profile event, conducted under the watchful eyes of Ernst & Young and attended by the Table Tennis Federation of India’s (TTFI) senior vice-president Rajeev Bodas, co-Owner of CEAT UTT Vita Dani and the six team owners, set the ball rolling for the June 14-July 1 league.
The Falcons, who got the opportunity to choose their coach first after the draw of lots, wasted no time in opting for the 34-year-old 2006 Commonwealth Games’ gold medallist who is now the coach of the Indian team.
The Yoddhas, who were next in line, swooped in on Hungary’s Ferenc Karsai, a coach with over 25 years of experience at the highest level. He was at the helm for the DHFL Maharashtra United last season.
Interestingly, the RP-SG Mavericks too showed faith in an Indian, opting for Arup Basak as their first choice coach. The Challengers and the Yoddhas managed to get back their previous coaches, A Muralidhara Rao and Sandeep Gupta, to make it a grand day for Indians.
In an exciting format that tested the teams’ ability to quickly think and fine-tune their strategies on their feet, the six teams were required to pick one foreign and one Indian coach each. The Challengers, Dabangg Smashers and Maha United opted for Peter Engel (Germany), Andrei Filimon (Romania) and Francisco Santos (Portugal) respectively to complete Round 1.
In the next round, the order was reversed, mandating Maha United to pick the best available Indian coach. They zeroed in on N Ravichandran. Sachin Shetty, Elena Timina of Netherlands and Slovenia’s Vesna Ojstersek were chosen by Smashers, Mavericks and Falcons in the second round.
