The 77th cadet and sub-junior national table tennis championships, formally inaugurated at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday, has attracted the biggest ever participation of teams and
The 77th cadet and sub-junior national table tennis championships, formally inaugurated at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday, has attracted the biggest ever participation of teams and institutions, including all the North-eastern states.
Normally, the eight groups draw contains three teams in early groups with the last couple of them having four teams. But, in order to accommodate all the 34 teams entered, the competition department has the first six groups with four teams while the last two with five. Interestingly, all seven NE states have sent teams in different categories, making the event even more important.
With teams having already planned their travel details according to original schedule, one round of matches on the opening day were confined to only those squads that had checked in by evening.
The main draws in all events are slated to begin on Friday with the cadet finals scheduled on the same day. The sub-junior finals will be played on the following day.
“This is the most difficult part because we want to give all those teams arriving late their due. They could not have changed their reservations and arrive a day before as railway bookings are difficult to obtain,” said competition manager Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer.
“Luckily, the stadium is huge and we can have 20 tables but the team members have to be here to play matches,” he added.
The championships which conclude on next Monday will have West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as the chief guest during the medal distribution ceremony.
