Guwahati, November 15, 2015: It was a relaxed affair despite the
routine ‘crowded’ schedule on the first day of the National Ranking (East Zone)
Table Tennis Championships at the Deshbakhta Tarunram Phukan Indoor Stadium
here today.
With the Junior section events having been pushed ahead in
order to facilitate paddlers’ travel to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh from
here for the Youth and Junior Nationals beginning from November 24, the
opening day events were confided to two rounds of qualification matches each in
men, women, Junior Boys and Junior Girls and one round each in Youth Boys and
Youth Girls categories.
But 45 walkovers in the men’s section alone and a sizable
number in other categories has not only upset the group-stage draws prepared on
the basis of entries received from individual associations, but also threw the
championships into a complete disarray.
“The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has taken a
serious view of these last-minute withdrawals, long after the last date for
pullouts. This is the second consecutive championships, after the North Zone in
New Delhi , this
transgression has happened. We are going to penalize the players as well as the
state affiliates,” said TTFI general-secretary Dhanraj Choudhary.
Confirming the unannounced withdrawals, TTFI Competition
Manager Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer said that he would dock 20 points straightaway
from each of the absentees while writing to the state associations to
compensate for the loss of entry fees that go to the organizers. “This is really
unprecedented and we want to nip this habit by players in the bud. The players
and associations know full well about the last dates for entries as well as
withdrawals. If they (the players) wanted to withdraw they could have done this
as it is just a click away since the on-line entry system came into being from
last year,’’ said Ganeshan.
Ankita pulls out
Meanwhile, Ankita Das who had a direct entry in the main
draw of the women’s singles pulled out because of her father’s ill-health. The
Olympian, who had gone to Sweden
to play in the professional league, called the competition manager from abroad
to consider her withdrawal leniently.
“This was a genuine case and we had to look at
compassionately. In another case we took a sympathetic view of Anandita Chakraborty’s
withdrawal because of a medical condition. We are not rigid when it comes to
withdrawals provided they are for genuine reasons and information reaches us in
advance,” added the competition manger.
President’s Award
To dispel the gloomy picture emerging out of haphazard
withdrawals, four paddlers in the Cadet and Sub-Junior sections brought a
silver lining when they were awarded the President’s medal, certificates and a
cash prize by Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan yesterday. This had somewhat
lifted the spirit of players participating here.
The recipients of the President’s decoration under the
National Child Development scheme were conferred on Manav Thakkar (PSPBA), Jeho
Himnakulhpuingheta (PSPBA), Archana Kamat Girish (AAI) and Vansikha Bhargava (Delhi ). The Gujarat boy, Manav swept all national ranking titles last
year, while Archana, the girl from Karnataka, was reigning supreme in the
sub-junior section. So were Jeho, the boy from Mizoram, and Delhi girl Vanshika who won Cadet Boys and
Girls titles.
Equipment hiccups
Meanwhile, players’ apprehension was removed about the use
of a new brand of balls in the championships when the TTFI decided to go back
to STAG balls. According to initial announcement, Donic equipment including
flooring and balls were to be used. But after players expressed
dissatisfaction, the organizers had to go with the tested and tried ones.
Even the Donic flooring was insufficient, the players
commented.
Admitting the folly, the competition manager said that they
will take care of such things in the future. However, he said that the TTFI had
sent a written request to Donic for 16 tables and sufficient flooring. “As for
the quality of Donic balls, the players were not comfortable and we had to
honour their words. After all, without players no tournament can be held and
they are the stars of the show,” said Ganeshan.
Even the technical officials (umpires) were not supplied the
usual equipment like net gauges, tossing coins, time-out displays but they were
surprised to receive green cards, instead of the white used for timeouts. The
sport uses only white, yellow and red cards. The worst part was not supplying a
show-court which is a mandatory, particularly when there is a live coverage of
the championships by DD Sports.
However, there was appreciation from players for the
conditions inside the hall with excellent and sufficient lighting.
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