Pudhucherry, January 11, 2015: The supremacy of the
Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), men’s team title holders, will be
under no threat whatsoever when they take on the remaining 33 in fray here for
the 76th Senior Nationals, beginning at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here
from tomorrow.
With a steady supply line and an excellent team ethics, the
PSPB have held a sway over the Barna Ballack Cup for several years in a row.
The firepower in their arsenal is a further confirmation—national champion
Sanil Shetty, G.Sathiyan, Soumyajit Ghosh (he won the Petroleum title last
week), Anthony Amal Raj and Harmeet Desai—of the solidity which most teams can
only dream about.
The sore note, however, could be the absence of a
long-standing companion in Achanta Shatath Kamal, who has opted out of the championships,
a first of its kind many years. He did make a token appearance in the Petroleum
event held in New Delhi
last week, perhaps forced by his employers!
On the other hand, PSPB women’s team has to rely on old
warhorses Mouma Das, Poulami Ghatak and K. Shamini, in that order, and the
young brigade of Manika Batra and Ankita Das to retain the Jayalakshmi Cup.
Though part of the younger lot, national champion Ankita has been as
inconsistent as Shamini, who won the Petroleum title. This would put the extra
pressure on Manika and even Mouma who, despite being the oldest, is considered
dependable. The suspension of Suthirtha Mukherjee, who won back-to-back titles
at Indore and
Gandhidham, could be a setback for PSPB who, otherwise, could have pitted a young
team keeping the future in mind.
Similarly, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), who
qualified for the nationals here, will have to bear the brunt of the ban of
some of their senior players, including Sagarika Mukherjee. They will have to
make do with the juniors like Mariya Rony and Seraha Jacob, the two promising
youngsters from Kerala, to support senior Nikhat Banu in AAI’s cause.
This has given ample chance to teams like Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu, with
steady bunches, making a beeline for the title or at least the runners-up
slots. Another reason for the turnaround could be the North and West Bengals . Caught in the age-fraud controversies,
today they are struggling to put together teams of calibre. No
wonder, the two Bengals, who have built their reputations on false premise, are
paying the price.
The split of Andhra and Telangana may not have done any good
to both as they have to overcome the jolt and look ahead. As for hosts
Pudhucherry, who have group toppers Maharashtra
and Railways in women and men categories, respectively, will look to finish
second in their groups to qualify for the main draw. Railways, who have been
struggling to find their feet in team events for quite some time now.
But all said and done, the real battles among paddlers will
be witnessed when the main draw action in singles take place on the fourth day.
That is when every player worth his salt will give the best shot at the titles.
The Rs. 9.58 lakh prize money will be the big motivating factor, besides the
coveted crowns and valuable ranking points. For the first time, the doubles
winners and runners-up in all the three sections will receive prize money—a
total of Rs 28,000 each.
Teams here have been divided into eight groups of three or
four teams with only top two making it to the second stage, the knockout,
beginning the second day, followed by semifinals and finals on the third day.
The day will also see qualification matches in singles events.
CRUCAL EC MEETING
Meanwhile, the executive committee of the TTFI will meet
here to take some important decisions on the suspended players, including the
quantum of punishment (or otherwise) apart from Sharath Kamal’s issue of
non-appearance at the nationals. With the sport ministry guidelines strictly
advising against selection of such players who have skipped the national meets
for Team India
assignments, Sharath could be staring at an embarrassing decision.
A TTFI release
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