As Butterfly Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 7 marks the debut of India’s first AI-powered Decision Review System, the Table Tennis Review (TTR) system, Stupa Sports’ latest officiating technology, takes centre stage in one of India’s premier franchise leagues. Developed by Stupa Sports, TTR has been introduced this season to assist match officials with evidence-backed decisions in key officiating scenarios, in under 20 seconds, reinforcing the league’s continued focus on innovation and technology. Below are responses from Megha Gambhir, Co-founder & CEO, Stupa Sports, on the evolution of the Butterfly UTT partnership, the development of TTR, and the broader future of sports technology.
Q1. Ultimate Table Tennis has consistently embraced technology over the years. With the introduction of Table Tennis Review (TTR) this season, how does this partnership reflect the league’s evolving approach to innovation?
Ans. Our partnership with Ultimate Table Tennis has been built over several seasons, beginning in Season 3, and it’s been exciting to grow alongside a league that has consistently embraced innovation. What started with data and analytics has progressively evolved into delivering live statistics, advanced broadcast graphics, and now, Table Tennis Review (TTR).
The introduction of TTR is a natural next step in that journey. It’s not just about adding another piece of technology; it’s about enhancing the quality, accuracy, and credibility of officiating in a sport where every point can be decisive. By providing officials with an additional layer of confidence during critical moments, TTR helps ensure fairer outcomes while maintaining the pace and integrity of the game.
For us, this reflects UTT’s long-term vision of using technology to elevate every aspect of the competition-from the fan experience to player performance and now match officiating. It reinforces the league’s position as one of the most forward-thinking sporting properties in India, and we’re proud to be contributing to that vision.
Q2. Table tennis is one of the fastest sports in the world, where matches are often decided by the finest margins. What were the biggest engineering challenges in building a review system that delivers accurate decisions without interrupting the rhythm of the game?
Ans. Table tennis is incredibly fast, with rallies unfolding in fractions of a second, so the biggest challenge was developing a system that could deliver highly accurate decisions without disrupting the natural flow of the match.
Certain situations, such as edge-ball decisions and service-related reviews, are particularly complex because they involve subtle ball trajectories, contact points, and player movements that happen almost instantaneously. Capturing and analysing these moments reliably required extensive work in computer vision, camera calibration, and AI-based video analysis.
Equally important was balancing accuracy with speed. A review system is only effective if it can provide officials with a clear and reliable outcome within a matter of seconds. Our focus was to ensure that the technology enhances decision-making without causing unnecessary delays or affecting the momentum of the game.
We also strongly believe that technology should support officials, not replace them. TTR is designed to give referees an additional layer of confidence during critical decisions while keeping the human element at the centre of officiating.
Finally, building a system for a live tournament environment comes with its own challenges. It has to perform consistently under different venue conditions, integrate seamlessly with the broadcast workflow, and operate reliably throughout an entire competition. That level of robustness is just as important as the technology itself.
Q3. TTR is another addition to Stupa’s growing portfolio of sports technologies. How has your vision evolved from being an analytics company to building technology that now supports officiating, broadcasting and tournament operations?
Ans. When we started Stupa, we thought we were solving an analytics problem. We believed that if we could give athletes and coaches better data, they could make better decisions and improve performance.
But as we spent more time with federations, organisers and leagues across the world, we realised the real problem was much bigger.
The challenge wasn’t a lack of analytics. It was that the entire sports ecosystem was fragmented.
Tournament registrations were happening in one place, scoring in another, rankings somewhere else, broadcasts on a different platform, and much of the valuable data was simply getting lost.
We realised that if the foundation isn’t digital, analytics can only do so much.
That changed our vision completely.
Today, every technology we build-whether it’s tournament management, AI-assisted officiating, broadcasting, live graphics or analytics-is solving one larger problem: helping sports become smarter, more connected and more accessible.
What excites me the most is that we’re not just building software. We’re building digital infrastructure for sport.
And as someone who has seen how much talent exists across countries, especially in developing sporting ecosystems, I genuinely believe technology can become a great equaliser. It can help smaller federations operate like world-class organisations, help athletes get discovered through data instead of chance, and help fans connect more deeply with the sport they love.
That’s the journey we’re on.
TTR is not another product launch. It’s another step towards a future where every competition, every athlete and every performance contributes to one connected, intelligent sports ecosystem.
Q4. Earlier this year, Stupa’s Instant Review System for badminton received BWF homologation, and now TTR is making its debut at Ultimate Table Tennis. What do these milestones say about India’s ability to build specialised sports technology for global markets?
Ans. I think these milestones represent something much bigger than Stupa.
For a long time, when people thought about advanced sports technology-whether it was officiating, tracking or broadcast analytics-they immediately thought of companies from Europe or North America. Systems like Hawk-Eye became the global benchmark, and today they’re deployed across more than 20 major sports worldwide.
Today, that perception is beginning to change.
When a global governing body like the Badminton World Federation homologates an Indian-built officiating system, or when technologies like TTR are trusted at premier leagues like Ultimate Table Tennis, it sends a very strong message-that Indian engineering is capable of building products that meet the highest global standards, not just on cost, but on accuracy, reliability and performance.
And that’s important because trust is the currency of sports technology. If you’re making or assisting an officiating decision, you don’t get rewarded for being right a thousand times-you lose trust the one time you’re wrong. That’s why validation from international governing bodies matters so much. It tells the world that your technology has been tested against some of the toughest standards in sport.
What’s even more exciting is the larger opportunity. The global sports technology market is projected to grow from around USD 34 billion today to nearly USD 69 billion by 2030, driven by AI, analytics, tracking and fan engagement. At the same time, India’s sports economy is expected to grow from about USD 52 billion to nearly USD 130 billion by 2030, with digital transformation becoming one of the biggest growth drivers.
So we’re at a very interesting point.
India has already become a global leader in SaaS and digital public infrastructure. I genuinely believe sports technology can be the next chapter.
Our ambition isn’t simply to build products for a few elite tournaments. It’s to build world-class technology, proudly made in India, that powers federations, leagues and competitions across the world.
If we continue building with the same focus on innovation, quality and execution, I don’t see why India can’t become one of the global leaders in sports technology over the next decade.
Q5. Looking beyond Ultimate Table Tennis, where do you see the next phase of innovation in sports technology, and what role do you see Stupa playing in shaping it?
Ans. We’re entering a phase where technology will become fundamental to every aspect of sport-not just performance analysis, but officiating, tournament operations, governance, broadcasting, and fan engagement. The future is about creating connected digital ecosystems where data flows seamlessly across every stakeholder.
One of the biggest opportunities is making advanced sports technology more accessible. Today, many cutting-edge solutions are available only to the largest international events. We believe leagues and federations of all sizes should have access to the same level of technology, whether it’s AI-powered officiating, tournament management platforms, live data, or broadcast enhancements.
At Stupa, that’s exactly the future we’re building towards. Our vision is to develop an integrated technology ecosystem that simplifies how sports are organised, officiated, broadcast, and experienced by fans. We want technology to become an enabler that helps sports organisations operate more efficiently while creating a better experience for athletes, officials, broadcasters, and audiences alike.
Most importantly, we want to continue building globally relevant products from India. We’ve already demonstrated that Indian innovation can solve complex challenges for international sport, and our ambition is to keep developing world-class technologies that are trusted by federations and leagues across the globe.
Butterfly Ultimate Table Tennis Season 7 is being held from 9-26 July 2026 at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, Taleigao, Goa. The league is being broadcast live on Star Sports and streamed on JioHotstar.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a press release)