NEW DELHI: While eight members of India’s World Championship team on Tuesday received financial clearance from Sports Authority of India (SAI) for going to Denmark for a training camp as well as Budapest for the event, there was a slight change in plan. Harmeet Desai, an initial member of the squad, was overlooked in favour of Anthony Amalraj.
The communication was received from SAI on Tuesday, the same day when three paddlers — A Sharath Kamal, Archana Girish Kamath and Manav Thakkar — departed from the capital for Denmark. Amalraj was initially kept as standby for the competition when the team was announced by Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) on March 16. But as of Tuesday, Harmeet has been shifted to the reserves.
International Table Tennis Federation and World Championship organisers had received entries for the initial eight and had approved all of them. But they will have to change it now. According to TTFI, the change was made by SAI after looking at both international and domestic rankings of the players.
“We had suggested Harmeet’s name because his world ranking (112) is higher than that of Amalraj (152). India’s seeding would also have improved. A few good matches there would have seen him enter the top 100 as well. But Amalraj is higher in domestic rankings and is an adequate replacement. We have no problems with the decision,” a top TTFI official told this daily.
The Gujarat paddler was distraught upon receiving the letter. Desai had planned his schedule keeping in mind the multi-nation event. But with no scope of modifications to the entry list, he has no plans to appeal. “I’m obviously disappointed, to say the least. I had high expectations. But now there is nothing left for me to do. I just want to keep working hard and ensure that I enter the top-100 once again,” the 25-year-old said. Such a scenario is unprecedented in recent times, according to a few paddlers.
Amalraj has already applied for visa and is hoping to get it done by Wednesday so that he can join the rest in Europe. “I am really happy to have made the team. TTFI will let me know of the status of my application by tomorrow (Wednesday). I hope to give my best there.”There was also initial confusion regarding travel plans for both Indian coaches accompanying the paddlers. SAI had not received proper information regarding Arup Basak and Soumyadeep Roy. But they have now been cleared to travel.