Ahmedabad, July 5: As many as 59 state and national paddlers went under the hammer at the players’ auction for Gujarat Super League (GSL) Table Tennis season-2 held at Topspin Club in Ahmedabad here on Friday.
GSL is initiated by Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA) and its first season was held at Transstadia, Ahmedabad in August 2022 while GSL-2 will be organised in Surat this year.
India’s ranked no. 1 Harmeet Desai and second-ranked Manav Thakkar (both from Surat)-have been retained by their respective teams from last season.
India no. 3 and Vadodara’s Manush Shah and state no.1 women’s paddler Krittiwika Sinha Roy of Surat were part of the auction today.
Top paddlers like Asian Games medallist Sutirtha Mukherjee, reigning women’s National Champion Poymantee Baisya and CWG gold medallist Sanil Shetty remained the star players in Friday’s auction.
A total of six teams namely-Tapti Tigers (Winner of season 1), Shamal Squad (Runners-up of Season 1), Bhayani Stars, Kataria Kings, Multimet Marvels and Topnotch Achievers-had a total wallet of Rs 3,20,000 each to spend at the auction.
Secretary, GSTTA, Shri Kushal Sangtani said: “After the successful completion of Season 1, I am excited to witness the Season 2 auction. Top players, including two Olympians-Harmeet and Manav-are part of the league. Also, the team owners have shown interest in Season 2 which is very pleasing feeling.”
Shri Kantibhai Bhuva, chairman, GSL TT governing council said: “GSL Season 2 will be bigger and better than Season 1.”
Each team’s composition will be:
1. National Player (Male)
2. National Player (Female)
3. State Player (Male)
4. State Player (Female)
5. Veteran Player
6. National Coach
7. State Coach
List of Retained Players/Coaches:
1. Kataria Kings: National Coach: Anshul Garg; State Coach: Nilay Vyas. State Player (Male): Soham Bhattacharya
2. Bhayani Stars: State Coach: Vahed Malubhai
3. Tapti Tiger: National Coach: Ravi Chandran, State Coach: Hraday Desai, State Player (Female): Filzah Fatema Kadri
4. TopNotch Achievers: National Coach: Anol Kashyap, State Coach: Sailesh Gosai
State Player (Male): Chitrax Bhatt
5. Multimet Marvels: State Coach: Mihir Gandhi, National Player: Harmeet Desai
6. Shamal Squad: National Coach: Parag Agarwal, National Player (Male): Manav Thakkar.