With the SAF Games looming and Assam being one of the hosts, the Deshbakta Tarunram Phukan Indoor Stadium, venue for both basketball and wrestling during the February Games, will be put to the test du
With the SAF Games looming and Assam being one of the hosts, the Deshbakta Tarunram Phukan Indoor Stadium, venue for both basketball and wrestling during the February Games, will be put to the test during the national ranking (East Zone) table tennis championships, the fifth and last zonal event this year.
The event here has its own importance as is evident from the more than 600 entries across all sections — cadet boys and girls, sub-junior boys and girls, youth boys and girls, men and women — as it will be immediately followed by the junior and youth nationals at Dharamsala.
Since Dharamsala is happening immediately after Guwahati, the Table Tennis Federation of India has slightly altered the schedule and starting with the men, women and youth boys and Girls singles — pushing the junior singles to the last so that the boys and girls can travel straight to Dharamsala.
K. Shamini, who missed North Zone, returns to the fray along with her husband Nitin Thiruvengadam while the women’s presence will be even stronger since the Indian team for the Commonwealth Championships at Surat will be chosen after the East Zone.
The absence of NZ champion Sowmyajit Ghosh should help Anthony Amalraj, who missed a hat-trick of titles at New Delhi, while his rivals will be following his early fortunes in the championships.
Harmeet Desai, particularly, would want to re-launch himself at the East Zone, having fared poorly since Chennai where he finished runner-up. But then there are players like G. Sathiyan, and Devesh Karia who will try to have their way.
Similarly, Mouma Das, Pooja Sahasrabudhe, Madhurika Patkar, Ankita Das and Divya Deshpande, all women’s title contenders, will try to stop Manika Batra’s strides after her doubles at New Delhi.
