UTT Juniors Season 2: Ahona Ray Becomes U Mumbas Top Pick in Player Draft

Mumbai, May 29: ‘U Mumba TT’ has selected emerging paddler Ahona Ray as their top pick in the ‘UTT Juniors Season 2’ draft. All seven franchises have finalized their teams for the upcoming grassroots competition, scheduled to take place from July 8 to 19 in Goa alongside ‘UTT Season 7.’

Ahona Ray is the winner of the girls’ singles title at the ‘WTT Youth Contender Doha 2026’ and has earned medals in national and continental competitions.

In its second edition, UTT Juniors will once again feature India’s most promising under-15 paddlers, who were selected from the Dream Sports Championship Table Tennis 2026 held earlier this year in Chennai. A total of 14 players (7 boys and 7 girls) have been drafted across the league’s seven franchises.

The drafted players bring valuable experience and achievements from the WTT Youth Circuit and other international competitions. The reigning champions, ‘Kolkata Thunderblades,’ have added the duo of Vatsal Duklan and Titash Chatterjee to their team. Meanwhile, as the draft order shifted in the second round, ‘Dabang Delhi TTC’ completed their team by selecting Himan Mandal and Shrijani Chakraborty.

One of the standout players from the first season, Divyanshi Bhauik, recently became the youngest player to be drafted into the ‘Butterfly UTT’ team, chosen by ‘Dabang Delhi TTC’ during the UTT Season 7 auction.

In the draft, ‘Ahmedabad APL Pipers’ selected Saushwarya Banerjee and Arya Redkar, while ‘PBG Pune Jaguars’ picked Aarav Acharya and Shreya Dhar. ‘UP Prometheans’ added Nilay Pattekar and Subhomita Basak to their roster. The ‘Dempo Goa Challengers’ included Akash Rajavelu and Shriohshi Chakraborty in their team. ‘U Mumba TT’ completed the process by selecting Somdev Sengupta.

This competition will follow the UTT format, where each franchise will play against every other franchise once during the league phase. Each match will consist of boys’ singles, girls’ singles, and mixed doubles. Teams will earn one point in the standings for each match won. The top four teams will qualify for the semifinals.

Teams for UTT Juniors Season 2:

Ahmedabad APL Pipers: Saushwarya Banerjee, Arya Redkar.

Dabang Delhi TTC: Himan Mandal, Shrijani Chakraborty.

Dempo Goa Challengers: Akash Rajavelu, Shriohshi Chakraborty.

Kolkata Thunderblades: Vatsal Duklan, Titash Chatterjee.

PBG Pune Jaguars: Aarav Acharya, Shreya Dhar.

U Mumba TT: Somdev Sengupta, Ahona Ray.

UP Prometheans: Nilay Pattekar, Subhomita Basak.