NEW DELHI: Manika Batra’s exclusion from the Indian team for the upcoming Asian Championship has now made it to the Delhi High Court and the matter was heard on Monday with the court granting two days to the counsel appearing for the Centre in order to seek further instructions on the plea of the paddler.
The plea states that rules regarding the national camp attendance being mandatory for selection should be quashed and Manika should be included in the team for the tournament which starts in November. Also, the affairs of TTFI and of Soumyadeep Roy, who was the coach and allegedly asked her to tank an Olympic qualification match, should be looked into by the sports ministry. Senior Advocate Sachin Dutta was appearing for the CWG gold medallist.
“The Petitioner also prayed for the following final reliefs: 1. A Writ of Certiorari or any other writ, order or direction quashing the Rules and Regulations titled as “Rules and Regulations for National Camp” dated 04.08.2021 issued by Respondent No 1
2. A Writ of Mandamus or any other writ, order or direction thereby directing the Respondent No 1 to include the name of the Petitioner in the contingent representing India in the upcoming Asian Table Tennis Championship; and
3. A Writ of Mandamus or any other writ, order or direction thereby directing the Respondent No 2 (Union of India through Ministry of Youth Affairs ) to enquire into the management of the Respondent No 1; conduct of Respondent No 3 and other officials of Respondent No 1 as detailed in the present petition and the email of the Petitioner dated 14.08.2021 and the Representation sent by the Petitioner to Respondent No 1 dated 17.09.2021 and Respondent No 2 dated 17.09.2021 under the supervision of this Hon’ble Court.”
The counsel for the federation denied all allegations and said that the national coach was not even present at the national camp. “Table tennis is an individual sport, which requires specialised training with support staff. Only the personal coach would know the strengths, weaknesses, skills and areas that a player should focus on and strengthen. However, these rules do not permit any personal coach / support staff...”
The matter will be heard again on September 23.