UTT: Title awarded – Bitzigeios team comes seventh | International | Top-Sport | myTischtennis.de

UTT: Title awarded – Bitzigeios team finishes seventh

Jörg Bitzigeio and his team did not often have reason to celebrate. (©UTT)

09/07/2024 – Last year, German coach Jörg Bitzigeio finished second in the unusual Indian “Ultimate Table Tennis” league with the Chennai Lions and Benedikt Duda. This year, the Chennai Lions and Bitzigeio went different ways – neither could repeat their success from the previous year. The Chennai Lions narrowly missed the play-offs, finishing fifth, while Bitzigeio and his new team Puneri Paltan Table Tennis only finished seventh. Athlead Goa Challengers once again secured the title.

After just over two weeks, the fifth season of the Indian Ultimate Table Tennis League is over. After Nina Mittelham’s cancellation due to injury, Jörg Bitzigeio was the only German representative this year. The former women’s national coach sat on the bench as coach of the Puneri Paltan Table Tennis.

Last year he was second with the Chennai Lions, this year both were opponents. Bitzigeio’s team suffered the most significant defeat at the end of the main round against the Chennai Lions, for whom Kamal Achanta, known from the TTBL, played, among others. Puneri Paltan Table Tennis lost 3:12. The season started promisingly with a 10:5 win against Ahmedabad SG Pipers. But two clear defeats against PBG Bengaluru Smashers, winners of the main round, and Dabang Delhi TTC, who also qualified for the play-offs as third in the main round, prevented a better placing. Even the victory against the last-placed Jaipur Patriots could not change that. In the end, the 47-year-old and his team ended up in seventh place, the second to last place.

First title defense in the Indian league

Things went a little better for his former team. But last year’s runners-up narrowly missed out on the semi-finals, finishing fifth – they had exactly the same number of points as fourth-placed Athlead Goa Challengers, but had won one game less.

Athlead Goa Challengers, on the other hand, is the first team in the history of UTT to win the title for the second time. They defended their title from the previous season. In the semifinals they faced PBG Bengaluru Smashers, who had finished the main round as leaders. In the final they defeated Dabang Delhi TTC 8:2 relatively clearly and comfortably.

Unlike most leagues, the unusual game system is designed for mixed-gender teams. Five games are played per match, each of which lasts three sets. This means that a game can end 2:1 or 3:0, and the sets end at the eleventh point won without extra time. For each set successfully played, the team receives a point that counts towards the overall score. This means that each round has significance.

The team with German participation

Puneri Paltan Table Tennis
Ayhika Mukherjee
Nina Mittelham
Joao Monteiro
Ankur Bhattacharjee
Anirban Ghosh
Yashini Sivashankar
Coach: Parag Agrawal/Jörg Bitzigeio

Games with German participation

Table Tennis Puneri Paltan – Ahmedabad SG Pipers 10:5
PBG Bengaluru Smashers – Puneri Paltan Table Tennis 10:5
Dabang Delhi TTC – Puneri Paltan table tennis 11:4
Puneri Paltan Table Tennis – Jaipur Patriots 9:6
Chennai Lions – Puneri Paltan Table Tennis 12:3

Further information on the UTT website.

(AT)