Kolkata: The 85th edition of the UTT Inter-State Youth and Junior National Championships, beginning at the Netaji Indoor Stadium tomorrow, get underway with the Team Events of Under-19 Girls as 31 teams have entered the fray in what looks like an interesting, but tough competition for the coveted title.
Concurrently, the events will also witness group matches in the Under-17 section alongside the team events for the Youth Girls, making the first leg of the all-girls show at the nationals fascinating.
The Maharashtra girls, who won gold in the previous edition in Chennai, is still the team to beat on its sheer strength and deservingly occupies the top slot in Group A. Haryana, hosts West Bengal and first-timer National Centre of Excellence (Kolkata) follow them in that order to take their positions in the first four groups, while Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are in Group E to H at the end of the team draw held at the venue this afternoon.
For the team draw, the competition department has considered the rankings of the best three players of teams for the top slots, while the rest of the teams going in different groups are random.
Before we dwell into the team prospectus at the Nationals, one is equally worried over the relegation of Karnataka, whose girls finished on the podium to claim the bronze. The absence of Yashaswini Ghorpade, who has since moved to PSPB, has also graduated to the senior section, ruling out her participation.
Similarly, Maharashtra has preferred Pritha Vartika over Jennifer Verghese, who was a part of the gold-winning squad in Chennai. The induction of Pritha has undoubtedly strengthened the team, but dropping Jennifer was not a good option.
From the hosts' point of view, they will mostly rely on Syndrela Das. The U-15 girl has remained a phenomenon this season, including winning three titles at the Vadodara National Ranking championships in November. Syndrela, on her day, can be a real threat to the best in business. However, she will have the support of teammates Dista Roy, Nandini Saha and Saanvi Roy, who all can make a difference.
But their job, apart from countering the Suhana Saini-led Haryana, the West Bengal girls will feel the heat from Subhakrita Datta of NCOE, the team from Kolkata SAI Centre. They have capable hands in Dharshini Mouriya, Vartica Bharat and Sandika Bhattacharjee.
The dark horse in the competition for medals could be Delhi. They have a good mix of Lakshita Narang, Prisha Goel, Riddhima Kapoor and Vanshika Mudgal. UP will depend on Avni Tripathi, Suhani Mahajan, Disha and Aarti. Tamil Nadu, though the Group E leader, needs to push their case through Shriya Anand, Kavyashree Baskar, Ananya Muralidharn and Sharvani Nagam. Beyond these teams, one doesn't expect the rest in the fray to upset the applecart. Not even a miracle is possible.
However, there is some concern for the organisers, the Bengal State Table Tennis Association (BSTTA), on the eve of the championships. The equipment-laden truck from STAG was struck somewhere near Dhanbad and may not make it to the venue before midnight. The BSTTA Secretary, Sharmi Sengupta, said she hoped the championships would begin at 9 a.m. as per the scheduling by the competition, Manager N. Ganeshan.
He said A.S. Kler (referee), K.R. Manjunatha (deputy), and about 60 Blue Badge, International and National umpires, will oversee the smooth conduct of the championships, coming to Kolkata after 2014.
