U Mumba TT chose Ahona Ray, a talented paddler who clinched the girls’ singles title at the WTT Youth Contender Doha 2026 and has excelled in national and continental events, as the top pick in the UTT Juniors Season 2 Draft. The upcoming grassroots competition, running from July 8 to 19 alongside UTT Season 7 in Goa, will see all seven franchises finalizing their squads.
The UTT Juniors, back for its second season, will feature India’s brightest U-15 paddlers selected from the Dream Sports Championships Table Tennis 2026 in Chennai. Fourteen players, including seven boys and seven girls, have been drafted by the league’s franchises.
Players drafted into the teams bring strong credentials from the WTT Youth circuit and other international contests. Kolkata ThunderBlades, the defending champions, added Vatsal Duklan and Titash Chatterjee to their roster. Dabang Delhi TTC completed their selections with Himon Mondal and Sreejani Chakraborty in the second round.
The tournament has emerged as a crucial platform in India’s table tennis development pathway, enabling young paddlers to train with Butterfly UTT professionals, work under franchise coaches, and experience elite high-performance environments firsthand.
Divyanshi Bhowmick, a standout performer from the inaugural season, recently became the youngest player ever drafted into a Butterfly UTT squad, selected by Dabang Delhi TTC at the Season 7 auction. This highlights the initiative’s increasing impact on the grassroots ecosystem.
UTT Co-Promoter Vita Dani emphasized the significance of Dream UTT Juniors in Indian table tennis development, aiming to provide young players with a professional learning and competitive environment. The initiative, a collaboration between UTT and Dream Sports Foundation (DSF), focuses on strengthening grassroots sports and fostering long-term development pathways for young athletes in India.
