The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : India set to dominate

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 16, 2004

Sport

Sport - Table Tennis

India set to dominate

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 15. India is set to `warm-up' for the up coming Asian junior table tennis championship at the expense of its hapless rivals in the South Asia junior meet commencing at the NDMC Indoor Stadium here on Friday.

India's triumph in the five-nation all-play-all competition is a foregone conclusion since the opposition from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and first-timer Afghanistan is expected to be feeble. The two-member Afghanistan boys' team has been allowed to take part as a special case. As a result, Afghanistan will be conceding a walkover in the third singles in all its league matches.

India, champion in both sections when Dhaka hosted the event last year, opens its campaign against Afghanistan and plays Nepal and Pakistan later on Friday in the boys' section. India's final league match against Sri Lanka is slated for Saturday afternoon.

The girls' team competition will be a one-day affair. On Friday, India takes on Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in that order.

Since the top two teams qualify for the Asian meet, to be played here from July 19 to 24, the only point of interest will be whether Sri Lanka, or Pakistan, joins India next week at the same venue.

The Indian team, spearheaded by Arunava Ganguly in the boys' section and J. Swarna in the girls', has been working hard under the supervision of Chief coach Manjit Dua.

"The youngsters of today put in a lot more and it's a delight to watch them strive hard for improvement," said the former National champion, adding that India's supremacy over its neighbours in the region would continue unchallenged.

Ganguly, Soumyajit Sarkar and the defensive R. Abhishek, along with Jubin Kumar Subhadip Das and Aniket Koparkar form the boys' team. Considering the round-robin format, India can afford the luxury of making each player play in the team event.

Similarly, Swarna, K. Shamini, Ashlesha Bodas, Madhurika Patkar and Sayantika Kundu are going to prove more than a handful for the rest in the four-nation team league.

Among the other teams, Sri Lanka looks better placed to edge out Pakistan in race for a qualifying berth for the Asian junior meet. Nepal and Afghanistan are around just to make the numbers in the boys' section.

Bangladesh and Bhutan had sent their entries but not the names of the players. However, the federation of these two countries had not confirmed their participation until Thursday afternoon.

In the singles events, which commence on Saturday, there are only 23 boys and 22 girls in the fray. Players from Maldives and Bhutan will join the field. Here, too, the domination of the host is going to make it a listless affair.

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