The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : Big surprises in the offing

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Wednesday, Sep 05, 2007
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Sport - Table Tennis

Big surprises in the offing

Principal Correspondent

Sharath Kamal’s participation in doubt

Poulomi is the top-seed in the women’s section
Sharath is expected to arrive late in the night from Korea

KOCHI: The big surprises which marked last week’s institutional championship in New Delhi, the national table tennis season-opener, has suddenly brought a lot of life to the circuit.

With the stunning fall of Sharath Kamal in the institutional team championship, the emergence of Delhi’s young Neha Aggarwal on the big stage, fans must be licking their lips.

Well, the surprises are likely to continue in the OSEL National ranking championship (South Zone) which begins at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Wednesday. The qualifying rounds will be played on Wednesday and the main draw from Thursday.

Top billing

Petroleum Board’s National champion Sharath Kamal has been given the top billing in the men’s section but there is some confusion over his participation.

“The position will be clear only on Wednesday morning,” said M.C. Chowhan, the Table Tennis Federation of India secretary on Tuesday evening. “Sharath will be coming late in the night (from Korea) and I’ll ask him to play in Kochi.”

Petroleum’s Paulomi Ghatak (PSPB) heads the women’s seedings while North Bengal’s Soumayjeet Ghosh and Maharashtra’s S. Pooja are on top of the pack in the junior boys and girls sections. More than 400 players will be seen in action on ten tables in senior, youth, junior and sub-junior categories in the four-day event, organised by the Kerala Table Tennis Association. Olympic Sports and Equipment Pvt Ltd (OSEL, Bangalore) is the event’s title sponsor.

“We will also release the autobiography of former national champion V. Chandrasekhar during the opening ceremony,” said S.A.S. Navaz, the championship’s organising secretary.

The seedings (top five only):

Men: 1. A. Sharath Kamal (PSPB), 2. Subhajit Saha (RSPB), 3. Anirban Nandi (PSPB), 4. Pathik Mehta (Guj/AI), 5. Anal Kashyap (Asm/PSPB).

Youth boys: Aniket Koparkar (Mah/AI), 2. Devesh Karia (PSPB Ac.), 3. T. Omkar (Mah), 4. Sanil Shetty (Mah/AI), 5. S. Paul Roy (RSPB).

Junior boys: 1. Soumayjeet Ghosh (NB), 2. T. Nitin (PSPBA), 3. Hermit Desai (Guj), 4. G. Sathiyan (TN), 5. Susovan Das (NB).

Sub-junior boys: 1. Avik Das (NB), 2. Rajib Sarkar (NB), 3. Vivek Bhargava (PSPBA), 4. Arunab Adhikari (NB), 5. S. Sundar (Ker).

Women: 1. Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB), 2. Neha Agarwal (Del), 3. Manto Ghosh (PSPB), Mouma Das (PSPB), 5. J. Swarna (TN).

Youth girls: 1. Soumi Mondal (RSPB), 2. Neha Agarwal (Del), 3. Madhurika Patkar (Mah), 4. K. Shamini (TN), 5. Divya Deshpande (Mah).

Junior girls: 1. S. Pooja (Mah), 2. Shreya Ghosh (WB), 3. Sanya Sehgal (Del), 4. Ankita Das (NB), 5. T. Shruti (Mah).

Sub-junior girls: 1. Mallika Bhandarkar (Mah), 2. Charvi R. Kawle (Mah), 3. Narasimha Priya (TN), 4. Meghna (Chd), 5. Krithika (TN).

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