UTT 2025: How Snehit Suravajjula’s tactical brilliance tamed Quadri Aruna’s experience
Trailing Kolkata ThunderBlades 4-5 after mixed doubles during an Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 6 tie on Tuesday, Ahmedabad SG Pipers was already out of contention for a semifinal spot.
Another disappointing season for the Pipers was heading towards its conclusion. Snehit Suravajjula, who had a win-loss record of 0-6 since his UTT debut last year, was up against World No. 25 Quadri Aruna next.
The ThunderBlades needed a big win from Aruna to boost their last-four hopes and with Snehit being his opponent, the baby blue-clad outfit would have expected a positive result.
However, the 24-year-old Indian came up with a tactically astute performance to blank the Nigerian 3-0 (11-10, 11-9, 11-8).
“The strategy to beat him isn’t a secret. Just don’t let him play his forehands. I was trying to attack and pin him to the backhand corner. Sometimes, I was going really hard towards his forehand corner. I think I really served well and on his serve, I didn’t make too many mistakes which put him under pressure,” Snehit told Sportstar after his win at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad.
Snehit forced the 36-year-old Aruna to move around a lot. He also used his step-around forehand down the line to great effect.
After defeats to Tiago Apolonia, Lilian Bardet and Kirill Gerassimenko, all three overseas players, by a 1-2 scoreline, the win over Aruna caps off a season of immense learning for the Indian.
“I gained a lot. I got to practice with Ricardo Walther (World No. 34 from Germany). He was giving me great inputs. On the coaching side, I had Somnath Ghosh, who is also my personal coach, as well as Chris Pfeiffer. We trained a lot every day. After every match, we looked at my game. Of course, today’s victory gives me a big confidence boost for the next coming months,” said Snehit.
Here’s what Snehit had to say about his first win of the UTT 2025 season:
His first-ever UTT win came a little over two months after his stunning run to the WTT Star Contender event in Chennai. In that tournament, he took down a Top 30 player in Japan’s Yukiya Uda and also defeated Achanta Sharath Kamal in the five-time Olympian’s farewell match. After early exits in two tournaments post Chennai, Snehit has been working to add more power to his game.
“I trained at the national camp in Bengaluru before the World Championships. During the World Championships, I was working with coach Ghosh in my hometown Hyderabad. I worked on my fitness. It was like an off season for me. So, I was really trying to put on some muscle and did a lot of strength training,” he revealed.
The next big challenge for Snehit will be the US Smash from July 3 in Las Vegas and the Indian will hope to achieve another first there by qualifying for the main draw of the highest-level WTT events.