Gandhidham: The boys’ U-15 team competition at the 87th UTT Inter-State Sub-Junior and Cadet National Table Tennis Championships begins tomorrow at the MP Mittra Indoor Stadium at the Haresh Sangtani Sports Complex. A total of 32 teams will compete for the top honors.
The players from West Bengal start as clear favorites, leading the standings with 600 points and carrying expectations despite the absence of a weakened PSPB Academy, the defending champions. The Bengal squad has a strong core in Aditya Das, Rishaab Chattopadhyay, Himon Kumar Mondal and Rudranil Jana, giving them both depth and balance at the start of the competition. Tamil Nadu (390 points) and Maharashtra (315) follow as the closest chasers, fielding competitive teams that could test Bengal’s consistency during the event.
Tamil Nadu will rely on the combination of JN Sanjey Arwindh, K Akshay Bhushan, Akash Rajavelu and Tanmay Raghavan while Maharashtra’s hopes rest on Prateek Tulsani, Nilay Pattekar, Param Bhiwandkar and Aarav Vora. Both teams have enough firepower to disrupt Bengal’s title defense if they gain early momentum in the group stage.
However, among the most closely watched teams are hosts Gujarat, who are in fourth place with 182 points but show promise with their line-up of Vivaan Dave, Dev Bhatt, Dwij Bhalodia and Aarva Singhvi. Vivaan, a member of the gold-winning PSPBA team from the previous edition, gives the squad a distinct edge and the rest of the lineup complements him with youthful energy and growing experience. As the event returns to Kutch after 13 years, Gujarat will look to rely heavily on home conditions, which are understandably very hot, and crowd support to rise above their rankings.
Despite its legacy, the Academy team, with a relatively new squad comprising Sathish Karmeghakannan, Viren Patil and Dhrityaman Pandey, finds itself in seventh place and may struggle to match the strength of the top-ranked teams this time around.
The competition format calls for all 32 teams to be divided into eight groups in the initial stages, with seedings determined by the combined national ranking points of each team’s top two players. This structure ensures a balanced start while still leaving room for surprises as the knockout stages approach.
In addition to the team event, matches in the U-11 and U-15 boys’ youth categories will take place simultaneously, with the U-15 doubles scheduled for the second day and the qualifying rounds beginning on the third day. Organizers and the competition department aim to complete the U-15 boys program by day four. Thereafter, after a transition day, the focus will shift to the girls’ team competitions and qualifying rounds in the U-11 and U-13 individual categories.
While the Bengal paddlers have a clear statistical advantage, the presence of strong challengers and the added intensity of a 32-team field ensures the competition remains wide open, with Gujarat in particular poised to leverage home advantage into a potentially significant title challenge.
With a large number of entries in the singles categories – 384 in the U-15, 331 in the U-13 and 165 in the U-11 – as well as two doubles events, the tournament promises to be a hectic affair for the players. But despite the challenging heat, organizers have made commendable catering arrangements to help keep players well fed and focused.
The championships are conducted under the supervision of an experienced panel of referees. Mangesh Mopker will serve as referee for the tournament with PB Bhaskar, Nalin Sonmani, Kunal Patel and Chelapathi Rao assisting him as alternates. A 60-member team of Blue Badge, international and domestic referees will oversee the matches led by competition manager N. Ganeshan. Stag Global equipment will be used throughout the championship, including flooring, tables and balls.
