K.S. Segal of Manipur in action during men’s singles group stage of the senior National table tennis championships in Surat on Thursday, January 23, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
It may not have won a medal, but the sensational run of TTFI-1 men’s outfit — comprising one of the disputed factions of the Rajasthan Table Tennis Association (RTTA) — has created a stir at the 86th senior National table tennis championship.
The TTFI-1 men — including Shubham Ojha, Harsh Srivastava, Priyansh Bhati, Anukram Jain and Lakshya Toshniwal — first stunned Bengal to top its group and then marched into the quarterfinals to seal a direct entry for the next year’s National Games, scheduled to be hosted by Chhattisgarh.
RTTA secretary Sanjay Gehlot hoped that the internal dispute can be resolved with the other faction and the National Games aspirations will be fulfilled.
“The boys have worked extremely hard to first qualify. Finishing joint fifth is indeed incredible. We wish that the TTFI can help us resolve all the issues and even the other team players can be considered for the National Games selection,” Gehlot told The Hindu on Thursday.
“Qualifying for the National Games in a huge achievement and honour for Rajasthan table tennis fraternity. Hopefully, all the issues are put on the backburner at the earliest and players’ welfare is prioritised.”
However, a TTFI official, requesting anonymity, was not sure whether the National Games officials will accept the TTFI-1 team as the official Rajasthan outfit.
“TTFI has always ensured players do not suffer for any reason and will continue to do so, but it will be dicey to convince the authorities about this peculiar situation, should the National Games be played next year,” the official said.
Since two different factions had claimed to be custodians of table tennis in Rajasthan, the TTFI has allowed both associations to field a team under its banner since the previous Nationals. RTTA — which is an affiliate of the TTFI — had filed a petition against the other faction and TTFI but withdrew it in September 2023.
The TTFI executive committee will be in a spot of bother should the other faction — or any of the other states — raise an objection at the National Games.
The top 10 teams of the previous Nationals compete at the National Games.
The singles main draws for men and women will commence on Friday.
The seedings: Men: G. Sathiyan (PSPB), Ankur Bhattacharjee (PSPB), Harmeet Desai (PSPB), Manush Shah (RBI), Manav Thakkar (PSPB), Akash Pal (RSPB), Anirban Ghosh (RSPB), Payas Jain (Del).
Women: Sreeja Akula (RBI), Swastika Ghosh (AAI), Yashaswini Ghorpade (PSPB), Sutirtha Mukherjee (RSPB).
Published – January 23, 2025 08:36 pm IST
