CHENNAI: The spread of the coronavirus might affect a swathe of upcoming international table tennis events including the World Team Championships, slated for South Korea from March 22-29. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has sent mails to the players that the tournament will go ahead as planned but they are keeping an eye on the situation.
“They sent a mail saying the tournament will go ahead but we will know for sure in a week or two,” A Sharath Kamal, one of the players who received the ITTF mail, told this daily. As it stands, there is uncertainty on one of the two Olympic qualifiers for the Asian region. Scheduled to be held between April 6 and 12, it’s a route through which the likes of Sharath or G Sathiyan will hope to qualify.
“That is another tournament whose fate is not clear at the moment,” the 37-year-old said. Most of the big ITTF events between now and the Olympics are slated for Asia because the Games are going to be held in Tokyo. But with new cases cropping up, a wait and watch approach has been adopted.
One meet that has been indefinitely postponed is the Asia Cup, due in Hainan later this month. “That was an opportunity for me to pick up some ranking points which could have helped my qualification push. Now, I don’t know. I have written to the ITTF asking if it’s possible to host the event somewhere in the Middle East in April, let’s see,” said Sharath.
If India had qualified for the Olympics through the team qualifier in Portugal last month, players could have sat out a few of these events. But having failed to do that, they will have an eye on these. In fact, Sharath has been forced to change his travel plans to play in more tournaments in a bid to up his rankings. “Next week I will play the Hungary Open, which wasn’t a part of my original schedule. After that I will be in Oman.”
A few Chinese players have also sent their entries to be part of the draw but Sharath is relaxed about the situation. “There were a few messages at the German Open asking us to not shake hands and avoid spending time with them and so on.” Meanwhile, in a bid to help Chinese players, the Qatar Table Tennis Association has come forward to house 29 members of their national team.
SIKKI NOT OVERLY CONCERNED
Some of India’s leading women’s badminton players will be back in action at the Spain Masters, a World Tour 300 event. They skipped the ongoing Badminton Asia Championships in the Philippines because of the virus threat. N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, who will be seen in action in Barcelona, will meet the Chinese pair of Lu Chen and Ya Xu in the opening round. “Yeah, I saw the draw,” Reddy said. “While my family is concerned, I don’t think it’s a problem. There is going to be screening at the airport and all that. I don’t think it will be an issue.” With European Union member states considering increased travel restrictions for all persons who have been to China recently, there is also the possibility of a no show, but Reddy hasn’t heard about it from the Badminton World Federation (BWF). However, BWF, in a statement last week, said players from China will not be banned because of the virus.