After Remarkable Inaugural Season, Dream UTT Juniors Strive For More Success

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Last Updated:June 12, 2025, 14:00 IST

Dream UTT Juniors saw Ritvik Gupta and Swara Karmakar of Kolkata ThunderBlades win the final, aiming to boost India's international table tennis success.

Amidst all the glitz and glamour of sixth season of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) in Ahmedabad, the Dream UTT Juniors quietly saw the emergence of some bright paddlers from across the country, all under 15 years of age, who looked set to show what they could bring to the biggest of stages.

After two weeks of intense competition between youngsters across India, Ritvik Gupta and Swara Karmarkar of the Kolkata ThunderBlades emerged victorious in a one-sided final against the U Mumba TT.

The awards were presented by UTT co-promoter Vita Dani, CEO of Dream Sports Foundation Neel Shah and COO of the foundation, Sumit Pandey.

News18 Sports caught up with Shah at the end of the junior finals and asked what the long-term goal was behind introducing a junior tournament in UTT.

“The long-term goal is that we want to help India do better at the international stages," he said. “So we know that the only way to make that happen is that we give our youth, our top youth talent, more exposure, more platforms to grow, more platforms to experience and to learn and develop."

“For us, it’s not just Dream UTT Juniors. It connects back to the work we’re doing with Dream Sports Championships, table tennis and even some of the work we’re doing with the school sports organisations we work with," he added.

Ask Swara, the youngster who sealed Kolkata’s win over Mumbai.

The teenager, flustered by all the fanfare around her, could barely stitch words together when asked about her experience.

“UTT is very nice, I liked it a lot. It is happening for the first time, and I am the winner. So, I am very grateful and happy," Swara said.

For the inaugural season, UTT and Dream Sports went with two youngsters, one boy and one girl, representing each franchise. Asked if the next season might see a bigger pool of players, Shah said, “That would be ideal. We would, of course, want to go back after this event and recap how it went, what we felt. We would talk to UTT, to the franchises, about what their experience was."

“If we want to expand the pool and it makes sense to do so, maybe a couple of the athletes that should be here just couldn’t get drafted for whatever reason. That’s always a possibility," Shah said.

The ThunderBlades walked away with a prize money of Rs 2 lakh while U Mumba were awarded Rs 1 lakh.

Asked if the foundation would like to increase the prize money as well to attract more interest from players, Shah said that while that is a draw, most of the players would be looking forward to this tournament because of the exposure they receive.

“Prize money is important, but I would imagine that for them, if you speak to the players, the parents and the coaches and any trainers, it’s not just about the money. For them, it’s about the pride of representing a franchise, representing their city or wherever it might be, their coaches and winning," Shah said.

“My feeling is that the prize pool will always grow as more and more kinds of partners come into it. So we have some sponsors in the future who want to come in and support," he added.

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