He reached Chennai to take part in the fifth season of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) franchise league after a week of training only under his father and coach, Angshuman Bhattacharya. He was suffering from a back injury.

It was his debut in UTT. He was bought by Puneri Paltans. Before leaving for Chennai, he seemed a little worried about his performance. 

Still, Ankur Bhattacharjee, the country’s number one table tennis player in the youth category, stole the limelight by exhibiting a splendid show in the competition. He won four matches for his team out of the five he played. The only match Ankur lost was against Sharath Kamal on Tuesday.

Although Puneri Paltans finished sixth in the League, which is scheduled to end on September 7th, Ankur revealed he had a great experience in his debut UTT, especially before his upcoming important competitions. 

“Looking forward to the National Ranking zonal champions and then China Smash UTT gave a good boost, “said Ankur over the phone from Chennai. "The advantage of playing in the UTT is that you get the opportunity to play against the world's top paddlers. You get the opportunity to train with the world's top paddlers which ultimately helps you to improve the game," added Ankur.

Significantly, Ankur mentioned that defeating the world's two top paddlers in the UTT, Andreas Slavenko of Austria and Lillian Bardet of France was his memorable moment in the UTT. Both the paddlers are ranked within world’s top 30 and top 20, respectively. 

His aggression while playing was one of the discussed issues also during Puneri Paltans’ matches. 

But Ankur asserted, “I have never received any criticism for showing the aggression. Everybody, present at the stadium including the former India international paddlers praised my approach towards the game.”