GUWAHATI, Feb 17 � After a long gap of 72 years, the Assam Table Tennis Association (ATTA) conducetd the 71st Senior National and Inter State Table and Open Table Tennis Championship in a grand manner. The Oil India Limited (OIL) sponsored championship was organised at the Tarun Ram Phookan Indoor Stadium here from February 10 to 16 in association with The Assam Tribune.
A record number of 38 affiliated units of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) took part in the meet, where apart from Arunachal Pradesh all the North-eastern States took part.
Terming it as one the best senior national table tennis championship ever organised in the country, TTFI secretary general Dhanraj Choudhury said previously the federation never expected that the ATTA would be able to host the championship in such a magnitude. He also praised the infrastructure here and hoped in the future, the State will be able to host such mega events in other disciplines also.
ATTA secretary Tridib Duvarah said due to the hard work of all the ATTA members, led by president Rockybul Hussain, it was possible to hold the championship in a befitting manner. He said Oil India Limited provided the financial support in hosting the meet due to which they could conduct it without much monetary hardship.
He further revealed that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and the State Government provided adequate support, including the stadium due to which the whole tournament could be staged in a single venue. Altogether 10 tables were used during the championship to facilitate all the technical officials to conduct the matches smoothly. The presence of former stalwarts like Kamlesh Mehta, Indu Puri, Manjit Dua, Mir Khasim Ali, Nandini Baruah, and Monalisha Baruah Mehta gave the championship extra mileage.
All the senior players, including champions Asantha Sharath Kamal and Poulomi Ghatak also praised the organisers for providing top of the line facilities to the players. The only sour point in the tournament was mediapersons had a hard time getting access to vital information of the tournament. The agency entrusted with providing information failed to update the latest results of the matches in the internet which did not go down well in media circles.
