Hope To Bring TT Back To Its Former Glory

VITA Dani, an entrepreneur who co-founded Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT)—a franchise-based table tennis tournament played annually, is delighted with how the sixth season has transpired.

- CHANDRA PRABHU @ Ahmedabad

With the Asian Games and Olympics set to happen in the next few years, she felt the players are making notable progress.

In a free-wheeling chat with this daily, Dani, who also co-owns the Indian Super League outfit Chennaiyin FC, spoke about the league's growth and its ambitions and she also touched upon the role of sports entrepreneurship in the country.

Excerpts:

On how the sixth season of UTT has fared

Each year, UTT is doing better than the previous year.

Continuation of our sponsors is one more reflection of it.

And I think Mr (Niraj) Bajaj (fellow co-founder) and I have a common dream that we want to do this for Indian table tennis now to make sure we take it to its former glory in the 1970s.

This was when people gathered outside arenas to watch table tennis.

We will do whatever it takes to bring that similar feeling back.

I'm very happy with the way the league is going.

The semifinals (played on Friday and Saturday), I thought I had to keep some ambulances and doctors on standby! There was so much excitement.

On league's fan-following

Of course, our numbers on social media have gone up, and also our attendance in the stadium has gone up.

And all this, I think, is because of the introduction of the Golden point, which is creating so much excitement, and the introduction of mixed doubles, which is now going to be introduced at the Olympics, and also the (Table Tennis) World Championship.

These are the things which are making the game more exciting, and people want to watch it.