UTT: Sutirtha Mukherjee says appreciation from World No. 11 paddler was best moment

Kolkata, Aug 1: Sutirtha Mukherjee, India's top female paddler, stunned all by trouncing World number 22 Liu Jia in the opening Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) franchise league, which concluded on Sunday (July 30) night.

Sutirtha's brilliant victory over the Korean paddler, who represents Austria, guided her franchise team Falcons TTC to the final, which they went on winning to clinch the title.

Sutirtha who returned from Mumbai on Monday (July 31) morning said, “It was a dream to receive appreciation from Wu Wang, my teammate and the world's number 11th ranked paddler. After my triumph over Liu Jia Wang came to me and hugged me. I could never dream of such praise from a top player."

Sutirtha, who recently won bronze in the doubles in Australian Open, added, “Staying with one of the top coaches as well as with the top foreign players (Portuguese Fransisco Santos) in the franchise and participating in modern style of training with them for around two weeks has been a great experience for me. I have learnt a lot from them. Especially, from the coach who always told me that I could defeat any better ranked player, if I had belief in me."

Sutirtha, who now has set the target to win a medal in the Commonwealth Games, to be held next year, added, “Watching Wang train and even playing matches with her sometimes while training was an amazing experience for me. She is so accurate and precise that I was simply mesmerised to see her. But we could not talk much to her as she even does not know English properly."

Sutirtha maintains a private diary where she writes about her winning matches, excellent displays as well as about her failures. The 20-year-old paddler who anchored Bengal to the gold medal in the last senior national championship, said, “I read the diary every night. It motivates me. I want to carry this motivation till at least Tokyo Olympics in 2020. I want to don India shirts in the Olympics."

OneIndia News