GUWAHATI, Nov 3 � The 58th Inter District and State Table Tennis Championship in memory of freedom fighetr Sitaram Agarwal got off at the Tarun Ram Phookan Indoor Stadium in the RG Baruah Sports Complex here today.
Director General of the newly formed Sports Authority of Assam Pradip Hazarika formally inaugurated the championship in a colourful opening ceremony.
The championship has been organised by the Assam Table Tennis Association (ATTA) where about 400 participants from 14 districts, players and officials, will be in action.
The participating districts are � Guwahati, Namrup, Dibrugarh, Duliajan, Sivasagar, Nazira, Jorhat, Golaghat, Nagaon, North Lakhimpur, NF Railway, Tezpur, Silchar and Mangaldai. All the participating teams took part in the march past during the opening ceremony.
Inaugurating the meet, Hazarika thanked the ATTA for organising this event in a efficient manner and hoped Assam will produce some top class players by staging such tournaments. ATTA secretary Tridib Duvarah, while welcoming the gathering, said they are trying to organise tournaments in different places of the State in a befitting manner so that the youngsters get ideal playing condition. He also introduced former State and international players like Bijoy Hazarika, Sankar Lahkar, Nandini Baruah, Papari Hazarika, Carfew Roy, Gautam Hazarika, Jupi Borthakur, etc., and officials from different districts to the present players.
Joint Director of Sports Rajib Prakash Baruah, ATTA official Pradip Kumar Hazarika also spoke on the occasion and elaborated on the organising part of the meet.
On the opening day, team events were played. Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Nagaon (cadet girls), Golaghat, Dibrugarh, Nagaon, Guwahati (sub-jr boys), Guwahati, Duliajan, Golaghat, Nagaon (sub-jr girl), Guwahati, Golaghat, Nagaon Duliajan (jr girls), NFR, Duliajan, Sivasagar, Guwahati (women) have entered the quarterfinals stage and they will play in league format in the title round.
