Record number of teams to take part in Senior Nationals

A record number of teams will participate in the 83rd Senior National and Inter-state Table Tennis Championships to be held in Shillong from April 18.

Thirty-eight men’s and 35 women’s teams have entered the fray, the largest ever in the history of Senior Nationals. The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and the Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) are the two institutional teams that made the cut as title winners in 2019.

The performance of teams at the Hyderabad Nationals became the yardstick to consider seedings.

Those within the top 50 in world rankings will be given seedings for the tournament. Only three players — Sharath Kamal

(No. 38), G. Sathiyan (39) and Manika Batra (48) — met the criteria and have been seeded accordingly.

The entries in men’s and women’s doubles have been limited to two per team — per gender for States and one each for the institutions, as has been the practice. However, in mixed doubles, four and two pairs, respectively, have been allowed. The paired events will be conducted on a knockout basis.