Puneri Paltan , Dabang Delhi set sight on continuing winning form

Puneri Paltan Table Tennis and Dabang Delhi T.T.C will look to continue their winning momentum when they lock horns on Friday in the IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge-Balewadi in Pune. 

The franchise-based league, promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI). 

Puneri Paltan Table Tennis won their previous tie against Goa Challengers, while Dabang Delhi T.T.C defeated Bengaluru Smashers for their first victory. The Pune franchise currently sits on fifth position in the table and their young paddler Archana Kamath, who stunned World No. 38 Suthasini Sawettabutt of Goa Challengers, believes that they have a fantastic squad and will perform better as the league moves on. 

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 “I think we have a really good squad and a win in the last tie certainly gives us confidence to do better in the upcoming ties. Apart from the quality in our team, the management is really nice as well and they keep reminding us that we have to enjoy our game and the results will come. So, we will keep that in our mind and give our best,” commented Archana ahead of the tie. 

Apart from Archana, Puneri Paltan Table Tennis will bank on the likes of World No. 23 Omar Assar and Gujarat-based youngster Manush Shah to bring out positive results. On the other hand, the Delhi franchise has paddlers such as Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Sreeja Akula and Barbora Balazova in their ranks who are capable of turning the tie on their own.

Sathiyan stated, “The last win gave us much-needed confidence and it has given us a good start in Season 4. We will now look to carry the momentum in the next tie and hopefully register another win.”

All the Season 4, powered by DafaNews, ties start at 7.30 PM with broadcast on Sports 18 and streamed on JioCinema. The tickets are available on BookMyShow.

Squads:

Puneri Paltan Table Tennis 

Coaches: N Ravichandran, Zoltan Batorfi

Players: Omar Assar, Manush Shah, Archana Kamath, Snehit SFR, Anusha Kutumbale and Hana Matelova

Dabang Delhi TTC

Coaches: Slobodan Grujic, A. Muralidhara Rao

Players: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Sreeja Akula, Barbora Balazova, Ayhika Mukherjee, Anirban Ghosh and Jon Persson