The Hindu : Sport : Dipika omitted from team to Kuwait

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Dipika omitted from team to Kuwait

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Indian team for the senior Asian squash championship in Kuwait from February 13 to 21 is yet to be released officiallyby the Squash Rackets Federation of India but the championship website shows the draws and names of the Indian players.

The team comprises Saurav Ghosal, Ritwik Bhattacharya, Siddarth Suchde, Naresh Kumar, Joshna Chinappa, Anwesha Reddy, Surbhi Misra and Harita Omprakash.

Surprising is the omission of Dipika Pallikal, who won the under-17 title in the British Junior Open recently. She is easily the second best player after Joshna. The SRFI officials assert that Dipika was to be blamed for not being considered despite her credentials. “When there are trials for selection, a player has to attend that for being considered unless there is a valid reason for seeking exemption,” the SRFI Secretary-General, N. Ramachandran, said while pointing to the rules.

Back pain

It appears Dipika, on the eve of the trials, had sent a message to the SRFI that she was suffering from lower back pain and doctors had advised her a week’s rest. But what followed peeved the SRFI officials. Dipika informed the Federation that she was proceeding to Egypt for training on January 25 and wanted to know, if selected, when she could come to Kuwait.

“Since she sent the message while in Chennai, Dipika could well have called on us and we would have been able to assess her physical fitness considering we were finalising the women’s team,” said Maj. Maniam, the consultant coach.

Dipika’s approach was not in keeping with the norms that other players had followed, according to officials. “Joshna, the National champion, for instance had come to the camp and then sought permission to play in two WISPA tournaments. She is back now and is training daily with the other girls,” said Cyrus Poncha, the National coach.

As for the men’s team, Poncha said, “we had finalised the nucleus of the team at the time of the World team event in December itself. The question was only on the fourth player since Gaurav Nandrajog had expressed his inability, citing a family function. “As the next higher ranked player, Naresh Kumar, came in. There were no formal trials for men because they have been playing in PSA circuit regularly and currently are busy in Kolkata.”

“It is unfortunate,” said Sanjiv Pallikal, father of Dipika. He talked of a total lack of communication between the SRFI and her. “When Dipika sent a message, there could have been an attempt to get in touch with her to get more details. Particularly when we could not get any official on phone nor was she allowed to visit the academy,” he said.Mr. Pallikal said that efforts were being made for Dipika to go to Kuwait to “watch the matches.”

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