Top men paddlers skip north zone Table Tennis Championships

New Delhi: Top men shuttlers Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, Anthony Amalraj and Harmeet Desai will miss the North Zone National Ranking Table Tennis Championships starting here on friday, owing to participation in various leagues abroad.

The tournament, starting at the Hansraj Model School here, will see participation from 500 players. The absence of stalwarts provides a very good opportunity for the aspiring contenders, at least in the men`s section, to have a shot at the title and, if not, earn valuable points to enhance their position in the ranking table. These points will count for much when their selection for the various nationals, including the senior nationals to be held at Patna between January 7 and 12 next year, is considered by their states and institutions. All top women paddlers, including national champion K Shamini and the likes of Poulomi Ghatak, Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar, Mouma Das are participating in the zonals which begin with the cadet and sub-junior events in the boys and girls sections and followed by junior, youth and senior category competitions. There is also prize money of Rs.5.76 lakh championships with top eight finishers in each category sharing the spoils. The cadet and sub-junior finals are slated for Saturday while the finals in the senior section will be played on Wednesday next. The championships, to be sponsored by Vatika and Karbonn Mobiles, will have Stag equipments (flooring and tables) while Tibhor and Nittaku balls will be used. Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer has been nominated the competition manger for the event with Anil Dubey as the chief referee, who will be assisted by A S Kler and H K Oberoi.