UTT 2025: Ankur Bhattacharjee stars as debutants Kolkata ThunderBlades edge past Chennai Lions

Ankur stunned Olympian and World No #55 Kirill Gerassimenko to help Kolkata register their first win in UTT 2025.

India’s 18-year-old sensation Ankur Bhattacharjee stunned Olympian and World No. #55 Kirill Gerassimenko–an opponent 10 years and 104 spots ahead of him–with a sweeping 3-0 victory, as debutants Kolkata ThunderBlades opened their Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT 2025) Season 6 campaign with a thrilling 8-7 win over Stanley’s Chennai Lions.

With Indian stars clashing against international heavyweights across all four singles matches, the spotlight was firmly on Ankur, who stunned 28-year-old Gerassimenko 3-0 in the opener. Ankur’s dominance was clear from the start: his lethal backhand, statistically the most effective in the league last season, delivered nine winners in Game 1 alone.

He edged a tense second game with a Golden Point and sealed the match with a clinical 11-7 finish, also securing the Indian Player of the Tie and Shot of the Tie honours.

Despite that early blow, Chennai Lions struck back through World No. #36 Fan Siqi, the league’s highest-valued player in the auction and only the second Chinese woman to compete in UTT. Fan showed her class in a 3-0 win over National Games gold medallist Selena Selvakumar, who was returning to the league after six years.

Chennai then claimed the mixed doubles through Fan and Payas Jain, who outplayed Ankur and Adriana Diaz in the first two games, though the Kolkata pair salvaged a game with a late surge led by Diaz’s spectacular back-to-back smashes.

Also Read: Ultimate Table Tennis 2025: Full schedule, fixtures, results, squads, live streaming details

Kolkata ThunderBlades responded with a strong finish. In the fourth match, former Youth World No. #1 Payas took a game off World No. #27 Aruna Quadri, but the experienced Nigerian proved too steady in crunch moments, winning 2-1.

That left it to Adriana Diaz, ranked 17 in the world, to close it out. Facing Poymantee Baisya, the Puerto Rican star took the decider 11-6 after an early 5-0 lead, securing the tie for the debutants. For her remarkable UTT debut, Fan was named the Foreign Player of the Tie.

Earlier at the Dream UTT Juniors, Sahil Rawat excelled in men’s singles and mixed doubles, leading Dempo Goa Challengers to a 5-4 victory over Dabang Delhi TTC. Meanwhile, Trishal Surapureddy and Shreya Dhar’s singles wins secured a 5-4 victory for Jaipur Patriots against PBG Pune Jaguars.

Kolkata ThunderBlades 8-7 Stanley’s Chennai Lions

• Ankur Bhattacharjee beat Kirill Gerassimenko 3-0 (11-4, 11-10, 11-7)
• Selena Selvakumar lost to Fan Siqi 0-3 (8-11, 10-11, 6-11)
• Ankur Bhattacharjee/Adriana Diaz lost to Payas Jain/Fan Siqi 1-2 (6-11, 4-11, 11-8)
• Quadri Aruna beat Payas Jain 2-1 (11-3, 8-11, 11-9)
• Adriana Diaz beat Poymantee Baisya 2-1 (11-6, 7-11, 11-6)

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