Player pull- outs hurt East zone event
The 11Sports National Ranking ( East Zone) Table Tennis Championships, beginning at the R. G. Barua Sports Complex’s Indoor Stadium in Guwahati, will witness a fewer stars in action as the top ones have pulled out, owing to personal reasons.
Joining the growing list of pullouts include Manika Batra and Harmeet Desai, who played major roles in India’s medal winning performances at the 2018 CWG and Asian Games.
Star player A. Sharath Kamal had participated in the North Zone and Institutional events and G. Sathiyan, who was at his best in Jakarta, competed just in the institutional championships.
These inconsistencies hurt the federation as much as they are the organisers of domestic events, besides upsetting the balance in national ranking points, a key element for selection. The federation, concerned over the retreats of star players, is thinking of framing new policies to arrest this menace.
“We want our players to compete in all domestic events. But when that doesn’t happen, we are obviously worried. We can understand a player not participating because of injury or circumstances that are really unavoidable. We are into framing new policies that we hope should arrest the irregularities,” said TTFI secretary general M. P. Singh.
And when such policies come into force, the paddlers’ instinct to play truant gets checked and give domestic events the star value they are craving for. However, the rest of the field in fray in the senior sections here is not complaining as Anthony Amalraj, Sanil Shetty or, for that matter, Manav Thakkar and others can use the opportunity to have a shot at the singles title.
With Manika out of contest, the field is thrown open for the likes of Suthirtha Mukherjee, ( South zone winner), Pooja Sahasrabudhe ( Central zone winner) and Divya Deshpande ( institutional champion). There are a host of former national champions, including Madhurika Patkar and Mouma Das, apart from some juniors that have been doing consistently well in recent time, and they would equally be eager to showcase their talent.
Eight players each in youth and junior boys and Girls sections will also gain direct Stage 2 entry.
After the senior and Youth finals on Friday, the junior finals are slated for the next day while Sub- Junior and Cadet finals will follow on Sunday.