UTT auction: Chennai Lions bag Fan Siqi with highest value of Rs 19.7 lakhs

At the Indian Oil Ultimate Table Tennis auction, Chinese paddler Fan Siqi emerged as the highest-valued player with Rs 19.7 lakhs, while Diya Chitale  emerged as the highest-valued Indian paddler with Rs 14.1 lakhs

HYDERABAD: Season 3 champions Chennai Lions made Chinese paddler Fan Siqi the highest-valued player at the Indian Oil Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) auction on Tuesday, splurging Rs 19.7 lakhs to secure her services.

With players going under the hammer for the first time, India’s top-ranked national player Diya Chitale also emerged as the highest-valued Indian paddler, returning to Dabang Delhi TTC through the Right to Match (RTM) card at a value of Rs 14.1 lakhs after an intense bidding war.

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Reigning champions Goa Challengers re-signed two-time title-winning captain Harmeet Desai via RTM with a bid of Rs 14 lakhs, double his base price. Season 2 winners Dabang Delhi TTC brought back Sathiyan Gnanasekaran with a successful bid of 10 Lakh tokens, making him the only player to have stayed with the same team in all six seasons.

Sreeja Akula returned to Jaipur Patriots for Rs 11 lakhs (RTM), while Ahmedabad SG Pipers swept in with a successful bid of Rs 12 lakhs tokens for Manika Batra. Youngsters Ankur Bhattacharjee and Payas Jain were picked up by Kolkata ThunderBlades and Chennai Lions for Rs 11.4 and Rs 11.6 lakhs, respectively, as all eight franchises prepared for the upcoming season with tailored recruitment strategies.

The franchise-based league, co-promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani under the aegis of the Table Tennis Federation of India, will take place from May 29 to June 15 at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad.

Debutants Kolkata ThunderBlades landed Adriana Diaz for Rs 19.3 lakhs and paired her with experienced Nigerian paddler Quadri Aruna, picked at his base price of Rs. 11 lakhs. Nineteen-year-old Ankur rounded out an all-star Kolkata attack. Chennai Lions paired Siqi with former U-17 World No. 1 Payas and Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko.

PBG Pune Jaguars secured Spanish ace Alvaro Robles for Rs 18.1 lakhs, making him the third-highest bid of the day. Pune also used their RTM card to retain Nashik-based rising talent Taneesha Kotecha.

U Mumba TT invested in top domestic talent, picking up Yashaswini Ghorpade for Rs. 8.6 lakhs and bringing in PB Abhinandh, alongside seasoned international stars Bernadette Szocs and Lilian Bardet.