The unique format of Ultimate Table Tennis where every game matters

Adapting: This format is unbelievably tough as the players are used to playing best-of-five or best-of-seven matches, said Diya.
| Photo Credit: FocusSports/UTT

Diya Chitale lost the deciding rubber versus World No. 32 Yangzi Liu 2-1 during U Mumba’s crunch match against Chennai Lions in the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) on Sunday night.

However, the youngster from Mumbai was the toast for her team and she was all smiles for having snatched a crucial game from her fancied opponent.

While Benedikt Duda, the German ace representing Lions, didn’t have too much reason to celebrate despite whitewashing U Mumba’s Manav Thakkar 3-0. After all, his team didn’t go on to win the tie.

Equal weightage

That’s the unique aspect about the UTT format, where every game has equal weightage, even more than the result of a three-game match.

Everywhere else in the competitive table tennis arena, paddlers are used to playing race-to-three or race-to-five games in a match.

But in UTT, irrespective of the result, all three games in a match are played and each game is allotted a point for the winning team. Four of the six teams with the most number of points qualify for the semifinals.

“This format is unbelievably tough. We are used to playing best-of-five or best-of-seven matches and over here, it’s all about the mental game,” Diya, who made her UTT debut earlier in the week, told The Hindu.

“Even if you are 2-0 up, you still have to fight for that last point and even if you are 2-0 down, you still have to motivate yourself to earn that solitary point.”

This unique aspect makes the favourites even more jittery, as it happened with Chennai’s Yangzi and U Mumba’s Lily Zhang on Sunday. Had Sutirtha Mukherjee, the powerful Indian female, not snatched a game from World No. 27 earlier in the evening, the fate of the tie may have been sealed even before the fifth rubber started.

“You just have to stay focused and not think about the scoreline. Otherwise, you get stressed a lot and get stiff. You have to start from 0-0 and not think about the scoreline,” says Duda, an Olympic bronze medallist in the team championship.

“The difference is how strong you are in the mind. Still, it’s not easy. You still have to perform well,” Duda added.