Goa will host the Butterfly Ultimate Table Tennis Season 7 from July 9 to 26 at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, with home side Dempo Goa Challengers, aiming to win their third league title.
The 18-day competition will bring together seven franchises, Indian players and overseas table tennis professionals for India’s professional franchise league. Goa previously hosted India’s first World Table Tennis event in 2023.
Dempo Goa Challengers are the only two-time champions in the league, having won the title in 2023 and 2024. The side will feature a mix of Indian youth players and international experience.
Its Indian contingent includes Syndrela Das, ranked world No. 1 in U-17 girls’ doubles and 2026 Asian Games representative; P.B. Abhinandh, the U-19 mixed doubles champion at the WTT Youth Contender Doha 2026; Divyansh Srivastava; and Ananya Chande, who won three gold medals at the 2025 Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships.
Romania’s Bernadette Szocs, the highest-valued signing at the Season 7 auction, will lead the overseas line-up alongside Spain’s two-time Olympian Alvaro Robles.
Szocs has played 53 matches across women’s singles and mixed doubles in the league. She was part of U Mumba TT’s title-winning campaign last season, winning six of her seven women’s singles matches.
“I’m excited to represent Dempo Goa Challengers for the first time this season. The franchise has built an incredible legacy in Butterfly UTT, and it’s a privilege to be part of that journey,” Szocs said.
“The goal is to help the team win a third title and I’m looking forward to another exciting season,” she added.
The season will also feature Indian players Manika Batra, Manav Thakkar and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, along with overseas competitors from 10 countries. Egypt’s Omar Assar and Wales’ Anna Hursey are among the international players listed for the tournament.
The seven participating teams are Dempo Goa Challengers, U Mumba TT, Dabang Delhi T.T.C., PBG Pune Jaguars, HVR Kolkata ThunderBlades, Ahmedabad APL Pipers and UP Prometheans.
Each team will play the others once in a single round-robin format. The top four sides will advance to the semi-finals, followed by the final.
The champions will receive ₹60 lakh in prize money. The runners-up will get ₹40 lakh, while the two losing semi-finalists will receive ₹17.5 lakh each.
Butterfly UTT Season 7 will be shown live on JioHotstar and Star Sports.
Leave a Reply