Paddler Sathiyan to lead Dabang Smashers in UTT

Dabang Smashers on Monday unveiled India's highest world ranked men's player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran as their captain for the 2018 Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) season, starting here Thursday.

The Smashers expressed confidence that Sathiyan will be able to lead the unit by example and will successfully guide the side to glory.

Sathiyan will captain a side that boasts of names like Manika Batra, India's highest ranked women's player and the Japanese duo of Yoshida Masaki and Sakura Mori.

Among the young players are Archana Kamath and Sanish Ambekar from India and Adriana Diaz from Puerto Rico. There's also some Belgian flair in the side with Cedric Nuytinck, who's ranked at the top spot in his country.

The team will be coached by Sachin Shetty and the Romanian, Andrei Filimon. The duo boast of a rich coaching experience at the National and International level.

Talking about his leadership role with the Smashers, Sathiyan said: "It's an honour and a pleasure to lead such a talented side. I'm really looking forward to this season as captain of Dabang Smashers TTC."

"We're confident we can challenge for the title this year, we have the players to do so and we have the mentality to do so as well," he added.

--IANS

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