Manika Batra’s last-minute pullout may have reduced the star appeal, but there will be much more at stake over the next eight days at the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay indoor stadium in Surat, the venue of the 86th senior National table tennis championship.
Manika, who became the first Indian female to progress to the Olympic pre-quarterfinals at Paris last year, was expected to participate at least in the team championship and help her employer regain the Jayalakshmi Cup. However, the lanky lass withdrew citing personal reasons.
It will mean India’s top two female paddlers — the stars of the Olympic — will be missing in action at least for the first half of the tournament. Sreeja Akula — India’s top-ranked international paddler, who starred in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) successive women’s title runs in the last two editions — will be forced to participate only in women’s singles. RBI failed to qualify for the team championship, thus making the women’s team championship an open field.
It will mean that the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) — with veteran Mouma Das at the helm after Manika’s pullout — can hope for a miracle in the championship. It will face stiff resistance from arch-rival Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) — led by Sutirtha Mukherjee — and an array of state teams will be eyeing the prized possession in the men’s singles.
In the men’s team championship, however, the PSPB outfit is set to extend its winning run to 23 editions. The last time PSPB lost the men’s team crown was in 2001, in the 64th edition of the tournament. And with veteran A. Sharath Kamal leading a strong unit boasting hometown heroes Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar along with rising star Ankur Bhattacharjee, PSPB is all set to continue singing “where’s the competition” one more time.
Published – January 18, 2025 09:53 pm IST
