UTT Season 7: Sathiyan guides Dabang Delhi to crucial win over Ahmedabad APL Pipers

Indian great Sathiyan Gnanasekaran steadied the Dabang Delhi TTC ship with a captain’s performance to deliver crucial wins in the men’s singles and mixed doubles as the former champions defeated Ahmedabad APL Pipers 9-6 in Butterfly Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 7 Powered by ChatGPT on Monday.

Delhi and Ahmedabad clashed at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, home to Butterfly UTT this season, trading early blows before Sathiyan combined with Maria Xiao to restore Delhi’s advantage in the mixed doubles. The Delhi skipper then took complete control of the tie with an impressive straight games win over Payas Jain, laying the foundation for the franchise’s third win of the campaign.

Organized under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and supported by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani, Butterfly UTT Season 7 features 42 players from around the world, including 14 Olympians, as it continues to strengthen the Indian table tennis ecosystem through elite competition and year-round development initiatives.

Delhi struck first as Youssef Abdelaziz defeated Adrien Rassenfoss in an enthralling three-run contest to seal victory at the Golden Point. Ahmedabad’s standout foreign ace Sofia Polcanova restored parity with another golden triumph over Maria Xiao to continue her outstanding Season 7 campaign. The momentum then swung Delhi’s way as Sathiyan and Xiao returned to winning ways in the mixed doubles, defeating Payas Jain and Polcan to hand the initiative to the former champions.

With the draw level, captain Sathiyan put in a fine performance. After finding himself on the wrong side against Payas Jain in recent meetings, the Indian stalwart responded emphatically with a commanding straight games win to put Delhi in complete control. Ahmedabad captain Manika Batra ended the night with another impressive singles win over Sutirtha Mukherjee, but Delhi had already done enough to secure a crucial 9-6 victory and boost their play-off hopes.

Sathiyan was named both ChatGPT Match IQ Player and Indian Player of the Tie, while Polcanova received the Foreign Player of the Tie award. Polčanová also received the Bisleri Shot of the Tie award.

All matches of Butterfly UTT Season 7 will be telecast live on Star Sports Khel (Hindi), Star Sports Tamil 2 HD and Star Sports Tamil 3 HD and live streamed on JioHotstar in Hindi, Tamil and English.

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Issued by:

Saurabh Kumar

Published on:

20 Jul 2026 23:53 IST