NEW DELHI: The table tennis national camp underway in Sonepat will see additional players soon. The Sports Authority of India approved the names sent by TTFI in both men’s and women’s sections. Apart from them, three sparring players have joined on Tuesday. The cost will be borne by the federation. Initially, the plan was to have six players in both men and women’s section but the final number of players was quite less.
Currently four men and only three women are at the camp, which, considering it to be a national camp, is quite low. Among men, A Sharath Kamal, Manav Thakkar, Sanil Shetty and Anthony Amalraj are there while G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai will join on September 11 and 9 respectively. In the women’s section, currently Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee and Archana G Kamath are there with Madhurika Patkar, Takeme Sarkar and Krittwika Sinha Roy set to join in the coming days.
Manika Batra will not join after informing the federation. With so few players, TTFI and the players and coaches in the camp asked for additional sparring partners and three Delhi-based paddlers Adarsh Om Chhetri, Sudhanshu Grover and Lalruatsanga Hmar joined on Tuesday. They were included at cost to the federation. “The camp needed additional players as the numbers were too low and the federation promptly arranged for the same. With more players set to join soon, things are looking up.
Hopefully, we will have a productive training prior to the Asian Championship,” Sharath told this daily. B ut the lack of a physio remains a concern. This was also the case during the Olympic camp. Only one masseuse is present for all the players in the camp. It remains to be seen if a physio can be arranged by either SAI or TTFI before the camp gets over. The team for the Asian Championship has also not been revealed as of yet.