Panaji: Even if playing at home, Dempo Goa Challengers are unlikely to have it easy in their quest for a record third title in four years at Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT), with the seventh season kicking off at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Taleigao on Thursday.Goa Challengers won the UTT titles in 2023 and 2024, the only side to have two champions trophies in its kitty. Last season, however, they were found wanting. They are now keen to make amends, despite assembling one of the youngest squads in the league with four players aged between 16 and 21.The Indian contingent includes talented young guns like Syndrela Das, Ananya Chande, Divyansh Srivastava and Abhinandh P. B. For experience, there’s Alvaro Robles, a two-time Olympian with Spain, and Bernadette Szocs, the tournament’s highest-ranked women’s player.The Romanian is also the most valued signing at this season’s auction.“I am playing for a team where the tournament is being hosted and it won’t be easy because there will be lot of expectations from us,” Szocs said during a media interaction on Wednesday. “Everyone knows I like pressure. When there’s pressure, I like to show who I am. I want to give it my best and bring the title to Goa.”In the past, Szocs has walked the talk. She won the title with U Mumba TT last year and will now cross swords with her former teammates in the opening match on Thursday. It’s tricky, but the former European Games singles champion is up for the challenge.“We won the title for U Mumba last year and now I want to give my best to try and do the same with Goa. I will be there when my new team needs me. We have young players, not so much experience, but with Alvaro and me, we can build a team good enough to become champions,” said Szocs, who has previously defeated Olympic champion Chen Meng at WTT Champions Frankfurt.The seventh edition of UTT has 11 players — five men and six women — ranked in the world’s top 50. In men, Egypt’s Omar Assar is the world’s highest-ranked paddler at 35 while Szocs is the highest-ranked woman paddler at 25. The tournament also features 42 players from across the world, including 14 Olympians.As defending champions U Mumba will feel the heat as they attempt to do what only one team, Goa, has done in the past: defend their title.“It’s a special moment for me to be part of such an amazing franchise,” said captain and world no. 5 in men’s doubles Manush Shah. “The transition (from individual/doubles to a team championship) is sometimes tricky, but there’s also lot of friendly banter between my (doubles and mixed doubles) partners and also India teammates. I am looking forward to an amazing season and hope that U Mumba again ends up as the champions.”Season 7 will feature seven teams competing in a single round-robin format, where each team will face every other team once in the league phase. The top four teams will progress to the knockout stage.
