It was a memorable day for the students of Mamidada, Ramannapalem and Kantheru – all small villages of Godavari districts - for they were taking part in the two-day State-level inter-schools table tennis championships jointly organised by 11even Sports Private Limited and Andhra Pradesh Table Tennis Association at the DRRMC Indoor Stadium here from Monday.
These players from the remote villages will vie with the talented players from other schools for the first time enabling them to assess their standards. “In the last annual general meeting of the Table Tennis Federation of India this novel step of staging an inter-school competition was taken to strengthen the game at the grass root level,” said TTFI vice-president S.M. Sultan.
As many 50 schools from all the districts of the State will vie for honours in two age categories, below seven years and above seven. The winning teams, both the boys and girls sections, will take part in the National Inter-Schools Championship in Indore in December. All the participants will be given participation certificate from the event management company and the medal winners will be presented with trophies. “AP is the second State in the country to stage the event and Chandigarh has already staged the event in a grand manner,” said K.V.S. Prakash, chairman of the organising committee.
Much to the delight of the TTFI, 11even Sports, with veteran paddler Kamlesh Mehta as its advisor, has come forward to pump Rs. 23 crore for 10 years for the development of the game in the country at the entry level. “The entire country will witness a pool of TT players created from which we can identity the future champions,” Mr. Sultan added.
He said even Asian TT Union has included this competition in its annual calendar giving it an international recognition.
Futureall Homes Managing Director Chinta Ravi Kumar, chief referee Mukkamala, APTTA vice-president P. Viswanath and others took art in the inaugural function. Eicher Motors Limited is the local sponsor.
