Table tennis: Shamini cleared, team leaves for World meet

National champion K. Shamini has been made part of the Indian team for the World table tennis championship beginning in Paris on May 15. The team left for the mega event on Saturday.

Shamini’s selection was in doubt after the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) took a serious view of her reluctance to play in the team championship matches against Singapore and England in the Commonwealth championship that ended here on Friday.

According to TTFI Secretary General Dhanraj Choudhary, Shamini’s performance in the Open events impressed the coaches, Kamlesh Mehta and Bhawani Mukherjee. In addition, Shamini produced a fitness certificate to pave the way for the confirmation of her selection. From the nine-member team, only Sharath Kamal has earned a place in the 128-player main draw of the singles event. Rest will have to play the qualifiers.

The squad: Men: A. Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, A. Amalraj, Sanil Shetty and Harmeet Desai. Women: Mouma Das, K. Shamini, Madhurika Patkar and Neha Aggarwal. Coaches: Kamlesh Mehta and Bhawani Mukherjee.