Chowhan re-elected CTTF Secretary

By Ritesh Gupta

NEW DELHI, APRIL 18. Mr. Mool Chand Chowhan, the Secretary of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) was unanimously re- elected as the Secretary of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation (CTTF) for the term 2001-2003 at its Biennial General Meeting here on Wednesday.

In the meeting attended by representatives of 20 Commonwealth countries, England's Mr. Alan Ransom was re-elected for another term as Chairman.

The TTFI President, Mr. Ajay Singh Chautala has been appointed the CTTF Honorary President, an appointment which is at the discretion of the host after conducting the event. Mr. Dhanraj Choudhary has been made a member of the CTTF Technical Committee.

In the first meeting of the newly elected bearers, the CTTF decided to continue with the Commonwealth Championship. ``We will conduct the championship but not in the same year as the Commonwealth Games,'' said Mr. Ransom here.

There was a doubt whether the Commonwealth Championship would continue as a separate event once table tennis was added as a discipline in the Manchester Commonwealth Games, scheduled for next year.

Among other decisions, CTTF also altered the eligibility criteria for representing a country as well. ``Earlier, a player was required to be resident of a country for minimum of two years by now it has been increased to three,'' said Dr. Chandra Madhosingh, Chairman of the CTTF Classification and Technical Committee.

Clarifying about the citizenship, Mr. Madhosingh added, ``in the women's team event final on Wednesday, Malaysia's Yao Linging and Zhang Xue Ling of Singapore played despite having Chinese passports. Since Linging and Zhang Xue have been living in another country for seven and three years they were allowed to play. So citizenship is not necessary but a player has to be resident for at least three years and in the tenure, he or she can not play for any other nation,'' added Dr. Madhosingh.

The CTTF has also decided to do away with format of best of seven matches. ``From the Commonwealth Games next year, we will have a best of five format with no doubles match. Since more countries are participating, the schedule becomes tedious and it is also not very interesting,'' said Dr. Madhosingh.

A decision on the venue for the next edition will be taken after the World Championship in Osaka commencing on April 23. ``If France is allotted the World Championship, then there is an indication that Mauritius may get to host, otherwise, if Brazil gets the premier event, then a Caribbean country may get to conduct it,'' said Dr. Madhosingh. The TTFI has been allotted the Asian women's table tennis championship to be held in Bangalore later this year.

The office-bearers: Honorary President: Mr. Ajay Singh Chautala (India); Chairman: Mr. Alan Ransom (England); Vice Chairman: Mr. Neil Harwood (Australia); Secretary: Mr. M.C. Chowhan (India), Treasurer: Ms. Audrey McDonald (South Africa); Chairman of the Classification and Technical Committee: Dr. Chandra Madhosingh (Canada).

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