Top players in action at National Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships

Siliguri: All top paddlers of the country, minus Harmeet Desai, who won back-to-back to titles at the Central and West Zone events at Gandhidham and Thane, will be in attendance at the National

Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships, beginning here at the Municipal Stadium from Thursday.

Desai is currently in Sweden for a training programme organized by the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and his absence gives a great opportunity to others who will have to try and maximize it here.

Nevertheless, national champions in men and women’s sections—Soumyajit Ghosh and K. Shamini—will lead a star parade that will include players like local girlPoojaja Sahasrabhude, Manika Batra, Divya Deshpande, Madhurika Patkar and the

likes. Then there will be the veterans like Soumyadeep Roy, Subhajit Saha, Anthony Amalraj, to name a few, to lend credence and some interesting, tough fights to keep the audience on their toes.

Local star Soumyajit Ghosh, who missed both the zonal events due to his training-cum-playing stint in Sweden, will be the most sought-after player at the venue. He began the season by winning the

men’s singles title at the Inter-Institutional championships in Dharwad in August. His absence was well utilized by Desai at Gandhidham and Thane.

But there will be a lot of expectations from Ghosh as the audience, the organizers as well as his followers throughout the country will want him to start the zonal event with a bang. His long stint in
Sweden, where he turned out for some club events, should stand him good stead.

Even Ankita Das, who has her own following at home, puts that much pressure on the North Bengal girl to perform as her rivals from West Bengal will be breathing down her throat. It will be interesting to know how she fares under pressure.

In the Junior Boys sections, both Abhishek Yadav and Lalrin Puia will be in greater demand as they did exceeding well at the Reliance India Cadet and Junior Open in Mumbai last week. Sudhanshu Grover, who won the Junior boys crown at Mumbai, will be under pressure to do an

encore.

Though Sagarika Mukherjee, who lost to her Chinese rival in the Junior Girls section, will want to set things right here. She was the lone Indian who went beyond expectations at Mumbai in the Junior Girls section. She, however, won the Cadet Girls title without a fuss.

Stage equipment—flooring and tables—will be used at the championships in which Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer will the competition manager with A.S. Kler as the chief referee. The qualifying events tomorrow will start at 9 a.m.

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