New Delhi: A 10-member Indian table tennis team sans ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal left for Santiago on Monday to participate in the Pro Tour Chile Open to be played from August 10-14.
Sharath, who was initially supposed to play in the Chile Open and was seeded third in the men's singles event there, withdrew from the tournament in the eleventh hour due to illness.
"Sharath was to travel to Chile today directly from Germany, where he is training, but in the morning he informed me that he is not well. He is suffering from fever, cough and cold," Table Tennis Federation of India secretary general Dhanraj Choudhary said.
"We had arranged for all his travel formalities and sent him his tickets and visa but unfortunately we had to withdraw him from the event in the afternoon due to his illness," he added.
Ace paddler Soumyadeep Roy will spearhead the five-member men's team in place of Sharath, which will also have Sourav Chakraborty, Sanil Shankar Shetty, Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai.
The women's team, meanwhile, will be represented by Kumaresan Shamini, Madhurika Patkar, Mamta Prabhu, Ankita Das and Manika Batra.
In the absence of a foreign coach, national coach Kamlesh Mehta accompanied the 10-member team to Chile.
PTI
First Published: Monday, August 08, 2011, 20:45