Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Patna to host Sr National TT from January 5


Patna, December 15, 2008

Buoyed by its successful hosting of the East Zone table tennis championships last year, the Bihar Table Tennis Association geared up to host Senior National table tennis championships at the Secretariat Indoor Hall here from January 5 to 11.


Talking to newsmen at the Bihar Young Men’s Institute on Sunday, organizing president and MLC Sanjay Singh said it would be for the first time, Bihar is hosting the Senior National championships. National champion and Olympian Neha Agrawal and Commonwealth champion S Sarat Kamal would be the star attraction of the tournament that would see about 450 players from different parts of the country vying for the honours, he added.


Singh said Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and IFFCO would be the main sponsors of the 7-day long event that would incur an expected expenditure of Rs 70 lakh. About Rs 6.5 lakh would be disbursed among the prize- winners of the tournament, he said.


BTTA president Dr Utpal Kant Singh said the matches would be organized simultaneously on eight boards. Team events would be held on first three days while rest four days had been kept for individual championship matches, he added.


He said about 150 technical officials of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) would conduct the matches. Thirty-four states and two institutions would take part in the meet, he remarked.


BTTA secretary Mukesh Roy said top players including Subhajeet Saha, Anirban Nandy, Pathik Mehta, Subhajeet Dutta, G Jitendra, A Amalraj, Sanil Shetty, Ranvir Das and Saurav Chakraborty in men’s section while Paulomi Ghatak, Mauma Das, K Shamini, Montu Ghosh, Mausumi Pal, J Swarna, Mamta Prabhu, Soumi Mandal and Kasturi Chakraborty in women’s section would be seen in action.
Photo Caption: From left Bihar Table Tennis Association secretary Mukesh Roy organising president and MLC Sanjay Singh and BTTA president Dr Utpal Kant Singh at a press conference for senior National TT in Patna on Sunday. Photo: Aftab Alam

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