CHENNAI:The ongoing tournament conducted by the Chennai District Table Tennis Association secretary Selva Kumar and sponsored by YMCA was halted by a court order on Thursday. Responding to a petition filed by Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association (TNTTA), the Madras High Court ruled that this tournament can’t be called a state-ranking event.
It’s a result of friction between two warring factions. According to another court order a day earlier, the TNTTA headed by Vidya Sagar was declared the authorised body. The event in question is conducted by their rival faction. Selva Kumar was treasurer during the previous regime.
Despite that, the CDTTA tournament started at JJ Stadium on Thursday and organisers were calling it a state-ranking event. Once the court order came, games had to be stopped for nearly four hours. It started after officials corrected the name. “We want to abide by the court order. We changed the name to YMCA-STAG table tennis tournament,” said Selva Kumar.
Due to the stoppage, matches had to be rescheduled. “We were planning to end by 6.30pm, but due to the order, matches got delayed and we ended at 9pm,” added Selva Kumar. Nearly 850 players have registered for the event.
Vidya Sagar blamed the CDTTA for the confusion. “Players were under the impression that this is a state-ranking meet. This is not fair on the part of the organisers.” On Wednesday, Vidya Sagar & Co were confirmed as TNTTA office-bearers from 2018-2022.