Gandhidham January, 21 : After bowing out of the quarter-final of the first national ranking tournament, Surat-boy Harmeet Desai will gun for home glory at his happy-hunting venue-Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium in Surat which will be the host for the second UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championship to be played from January 23 to 28.
However, his arch-rivals, legendary Sharath Kamal (world no. 48) and the highest-ranked Indian paddler, at 39 in the world, G Sathiyan, have confirmed their participation in the tournament and will pose stiff challenge for the local boy and the crowd favourite.
Interestingly, Surat national ranking will be Sharath’s first tournament in India since receiving the Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award on November 30, 2022.
Around 900 paddlers from across the country will vie for the top honours in the prestigious tourney. Apart from husband-wife duo of Harmeet and Krittwika Sinha Roy, Surat’s Manav Thakkar, Frenaz Chipia and Filzah Fatema Kadri will be seen in action.
Manush Shah, the winner of the first national ranking tournament which concluded on Friday in Vadodara, will aim for more glory in Surat.
Birmingham CWG medallists Telengana’s Shreeja
The tournament, which is organised by Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA) and conducted by Surat District Table Tennis Association (SDTTA) under the aegis of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), has 1800 entries.
The Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) is the title sponsor of the tournament which is co-sponsored by State Bank of India and Hero and is supported by Sports Authority of Gujarat and Surat Municipal Corporation. Equipment Partners are Stag and Stiga while Ashutosh Hospital is medical partner.
The legendary Kamlesh Mehta, TTFI’s secretary general, congratulated GSTTA and TTAB on successful completion of Vadodara national ranking and is looking forward to Surat tournament. “Surat has hosted international TT meet in the past and recently saw the National Games being organised at the Indoor stadium. GSTTA & SDTTA have a good team to conduct this tournament,” Mehta said during the press conference in Surat on Saturday.
The newly-elected GSTTA president, Pramod Chaudhary informed the press that he is glad TTFI has entrusted GSTTA with hosting two back-to-back major national tournaments. “This is my first big challenge as GSTTA president. We did wonderfully well in Vadodara national rankings which concluded on January 20. All arrangements have been done to make Surat tournament a huge success,” he said.
The secretary GSTTA, Kushal Sangtani said: “This is for the first time that GSTTA is organising two back-to-back nationals in such short duration. But are up for the task. We have good number of entries and we have put 24 tables to keep up with the schedule.”
The total cash prize money of this championship is around Rs 9 lakhs.
This Championship will have total 13 events: Men’s & women’s, Under-11, 13, 15, 17 & 19) boys and girls singles and mixed doubles events.
Around 60 technical officials will provide their expertise to make the event a grand success.
Photo attached L to R : Shri N. Ganeshan(Competition Manager), Shri Kamlesh Mehta(Secretary General, TTFI), Shri Pramod Choudhary(President, GSTTA), Shri Kushal H. Sangtani(Hon. Secretary, GSTTA), Amit Choksi
