GUWAHATI, Nov 9 - All the top national level table tennis players will be seen in action during the National Ranking Table Tennis Championships which will be organised by the Assam Table Tennis Association (ATTA) at the Tarun Ram Phookan Indoor Stadium here from November 15 to 20.
The State Agriculture Minister and president of the ATTA Rakibul Hussain addressing the media here today, informed that more than 900 paddlers from different States like Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, North Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Maharastra, Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Punjab, Meghalaya, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan etc have confirmed their participation in the six-day meet. Apart from the States, paddlers from institutions like Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, Railway Sports Promotion Board, Airport Authority of India, Air India, LIC, RBI, Indian Audit & Accounts Department and Employees State Insurance Corporation will also cross their swords.
Almost all present and past national champions like Mouma Das, Abhishek Yadav, Manika Batra, Manav Thakkar, Srute Amrute, Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta, Ankita Das, K Shamini, Anthony Amalraj, Soumyadeep Roy, Anirban Ghosh, Madhurika Patkar, G Sathiyan, Sagorika Muherjee have confirmed to take part in the meet.
Altogether 14 international standard Donic tables along with ball will be used in the championship. Donic also will lay synthetic floor which has been imported from Germany. This national ranking championship will be held in Assam after a gap of more than 25 years.
The ATTA secretary Tridib Duvarah informed that the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) will provide all technical support to the ATTA for hosting the championship where top TTFI official Dhanraj Choudhury, Arjuna awardee Monalisa Baruah Mehta would be present.
Competitions will be conducted from cadet to senior categories in singles only. An amount of around Rs 6 lakh is at stake as prize-money which will be given from the quarterfinal stage onwards.
Duvarah also mentioned that 100 players from Assam have been selected from various State level tournaments who will be given entry into the coveted tournament. He further revealed that the TTFI had bestowed this national event to ATTA for successfully hosting two national championships in 2010 and 2013 respectively. The ATTA is gearing up to host the meet in a befitting manner. The ATTA officials believe that the Assam players will be able to gain experience by playing against the leading played of the country.
