NEW DELHI: Following Table Tennis Federation of India’s stance of not allowing players who are not part of the national camp from making the squad for future international tournaments including the upcoming Asian Championships, paddlers who are currently outside the country have decided to join the camp at a later date. G Sathiyan, who is currently in Poland taking part in the league there, will come back to the country and join up on September 11. Even Harmeet Desai will join on September 9 after returning from France where he plays in the league. The camp started on Thursday.
Both had written to the federation and asked permission whether they could join up at a later date. TTFI were adamant that all paddlers had to join the camp to be eligible for selection. They were unhappy with the fact that quite a few players did not join the pre-Olympics camp at Sonepat.
Having already planned their tournament and league commitments well in advance, it had become difficult for the paddlers abroad to change plans last minute. The intimation for the camp had arrived only two days prior to the start of this camp.
“I have mailed to TTFI and will be joining on September 11. I had planned my league commitments earlier and it was difficult to change last moment. But I’m always available for the country and will be attending the camp. After discussions with the federation officials, I’m confident we can come to an amicable solution and no selection issues will crop up,” Sathiyan said from Poland. Even Harmeet informed the authorities about his prior plans and will attend from September 9. “TTFI had informed me and I agreed to join later as I had already booked my tickets well in advance.”
The camp is scheduled to have six male paddlers and as many female paddlers but it is yet to reach maximum capacity. Regarding the Manika Batra-Soumyadeep Roy controversy, the federation has given the coach time till Monday to revert after which they will decide the next course of action.