SILIGURI, JANUARY 6, 2012: With the top eight paddlers in boys and girls sections getting a direct placement in the main draw, the field on the opening day of the individual events in the Indian Oil 73rd Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships here at the Municipal Corporation Indoor Stadium was left open to the qualifiers.
Without a doubt, all paddlers engaged in the qualifiers were sweating it out having to play two rounds on Friday. In fact, some of the juniors were also taking part in the Youth section with valuable ranking points as well as handsome prize money at stake.
With so many participants the groupings have touched a new high—youth boys divided into 50 groups and girls 40 groups while in the junior boys and girls sections, it is 48 and 46 groups, respectively. So each one of them playing the qualifiers knows of the task ahead of him or her as only those who top the group will be able to enter the main draw.
Of course, there were some the well-known paddlers who by virtue of their lower rankings had to play the qualifiers. But all of them had cakewalks into the second round while a few have already made it to the main draw. The others, who have their matches late in the evening, should do so barring a hiccup or two. That is in the realm of possibility but then the fancied ones will have to play really bad to lose sight of the target.
As for the top eights in all categories, it was a day to give their already tired limbs some much-needed rest after the grueling sessions of play during the first three days of the team events. They should enjoy the rest day and recharge their batteries to come afresh and unleash their onslaughts on their opponents in the main draw which commences Saturday morning.
TTFI Press Release
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