The selection committee, which meets on Saturday on the sidelines of the Senior National championships to select the Indian table tennis teams for international tournaments, will have a difficult task on hand in choosing the men’s team.
With some of the top players missing most of the National-ranking tournaments to play abroad, a new crop of players has emerged to the top, putting the Selection Committee in a fix.
While Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai plied their trade in the Swedish league, Sanil Shetty and Amalraj did well for their clubs in Poland. Barring Amalraj, who is playing the Nationals here, the others did feature in a few National ranking tournaments this season.
However, World No.50 Sharath Kamal, India’s top-ranked paddler, did not compete in a single National-ranking tournament. And, for the first time in more than 10 years, Sharath has missed the Nationals too, and the TTFI may not have taken kindly to his missing the event. Secretary Dhanraj Choudhary told The Hindu : “It’s up to him to choose whether he wants to play for the country or not.”
G. Sathiyan and Devesh Karia have been the stand-out performers this season, and are now ranked India No.1 and No.2. Subhajit Saha and Lalrin Puia are No.4 and No.5.
With nearly 10 players in contention, the selection committee faces a problem of plenty.
