Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 13 : Sathiyan Gnanasekaran-led Dabang Delhi TTC will take on Sreeja Akula's Jaipur Patriots in the first semi-final of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 6 on Friday.
The two teams previously met on the opening day of the season, where Sathiyan and Diya Chitale guided Delhi to an 11-4 victory over their rivals from the North. Since then, however, Jaipur have won all of their ties and arrive in the playoffs as the in-form side in the league, eyeing a berth alongside one of U Mumba TT or Dempo Goa Challengers in the Grand Finale on June 15.
Staged under the aegis of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani, UTT continues to grow as a premier professional league. All 23 ties, over 16 action-packed days, will take place at Ahmedabad's EKA Arena.
Dabang Delhi finished the regular league season top of the table with four tie wins from five and 44 points, maintaining their record of reaching the playoffs in every edition of IndianOil UTT. Jaipur Patriots, who finished fourth with the same number of tie wins and 41 points, reached the semi-finals for the first time.
Delhi's strength this season has come from their depth and consistent mixed doubles combinations. Sathiyan and Maria Xiao remained unbeaten in four matches, while the Izaac Quek-Diya Chitale pair also won its only outing together. All four core playersSathiyan, Izaac, Diya, and Xiaohave won at least two singles matches each.
Jaipur's surge has been led by Sreeja Akula, who won all five of her singles matches in the league stage-one of only two players to do so this season, alongside Goa's Zeng Jian. Jeet Chandra has also hit form, winning his last three matches after an opening-day loss to Sathiyan. Britt Eerland brings a three-match winning run, while Kanak Jha has been reliable with three wins from four.
Dabang Delhi dominated when the two sides met on opening day, with victories for Sathiyan, Diya, and Izaac against Jeet, Eerland, and Jha, respectively. That result gives Delhi the psychological edge, but Jaipur's strong turnaround since then, marked by four straight tie wins, sets up a thrilling contest this time with a spot in the Grand Finale up for grabs.
Squads
Dabang Delhi TTC: Diya Chitale, Maria Xiao (Spain), Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Quek Izaac (Singapore), Suhana Saini, Sourav Saha
Jaipur Patriots: Britt Eerland (Netherlands), Kanak Jha (USA), Sreeja Akula, Jeet Chandra, Pritha Vartikar, Yashansh Malik.
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