Top foreign coaches were picked up by the six Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) franchises at a Coach Draft in Mumbai on Friday for the upcoming edition of the league, scheduled from July 13 to 30.

The tournament is scheduled to be played at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune.

The UTT Season 4 Coach Draft was attended by UTT co-promoters Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani along with team owners who made their first strategic move for the season by choosing a combination of one Indian and one foreign coach from the talent available in the pool.

The draft began by determining the sequence or order for selection with each team picking up the numbered ball (1-6) from a pouch for Round 1. The order would be reversed for Round 2.

The league’s newest team, Bengaluru Smashers made the first pick in Round 1 to bring Sachin Shetty on board before adding Slovenia’s Vesna Ojstersek as their foreign coach in the Round 2.

Second to pick a coach, Dabang Delhi TTC zeroed in on an experienced A Muralidhara Rao first and then bagged four-time Olympian Slobodan Grujic of Serbia as their foreign coach in the second round. Dabang Delhi TTC owner Radha Kapoor Khanna felt the process was very interesting and was looking to work with their picks.

U Mumba TT and Puneri Paltan Table Tennis found their desired combination in Portugal’s Francisco Santos and Anshul Garg, and N Ravichandran and Zoltan Batorfi of Hungary respectively.

Puneri Paltan Table Tennis CEO Kailash Kandpal commented on the team’s choice: “I am happy with the combination we picked. Zoltan and Ravichandran worked together in their last assignment in Kolkata. They work pretty well as a unit. There were other combinations we had in mind, but this was our priority.”

Goa Challengers picked a combination of five-time Olympian Elena Timina and Parag Agrawal. Vivek Bhargava, the Goa Challengers’ owner, felt the season started well for them with their picks at the coach’s draft. He further added: “The draft was wonderful for us. We got our two top coaches.”

Defending champions Chennai Lions picked India’s Somnath Ghosh before ending the draft with the addition of German Jorg Bitzigeio, who guided the German women’s team to bronze medal at the 2010 World Team Championships, as their foreign coach in the second round.