CUTTACK 24-Dec-2006 78
Table tennis in Orissa is sure to receive boost with the conduct of the 68th Junior (under-17) and the 1st Youth (under-20) National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack December 25 to 30.
Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and North Bengal will be favourites to retain the boys and girls team titles in the six-day meet. In individual category, Sunil Shetty (Maharashtra-A) and Neha Agarwal
(Delhi) are expected to retain the boys` and girls` singles titles respectively.
Around 400 paddlers from 30 States and two institutions (Petroleum Sports Promotion Board and Indian Bank) will vie for honours in 10 different singles and doubles and team events, Orissa State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA) secretary Rabindra Kumar Parida said.
This the second time that Orissa is playing host to a National table tennis competition. Earlier, the 62nd Senior National and Inter-State Championships were held at the same venue in January 2006. The six-day event is estimated to cost OSTTA Rs 29 lakh. ``The Union Government will give an assistance of Rs 4 lakh. The rest will be arranged through private and corporate sponsorship. Stag has provided 12 new boards, while Nitaku has supplied balls for the championships,`` OSTTA secretary stated.
The junior boys team will get the Mohammad Azam Trophy, while the junior girls team will take home the Padmavathi Trophy. In individual events, the junior boys champion will bag the Imoba Singh Trophy, while the junior girls title winner will lift the Shanti Bagla Trophy. The Sawantwadi Trophy will be given to the winners of the junior boys doubles event.
Two new trophies has been instituted for the Youth Nationals. ``The boys and girls singles champions will receive the Biju Patnaik Trophy and the Konark Trophy respectively,`` Parida said. The championships offers cash prizes amounting to Rs 2.96 lakh.
``The winners of the youth boys and girls singles events will be richer by Rs 35,000 and Rs 30,000 respectively. The two champions in the junior boys and girls sections will take home Rs 30,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively,`` Parida said. Host Orissa is confident to reach semifinals in junior boys and quarterfinals in junior girls team events.
ORISSA TEAMS:
Junior boys: Tousif Haque, Mohammad Azhar, Sreyan Das (all Cuttack), Siddharth Patnaik (Bhubaneswar).
Junior girls: Amrita Pritam Padhi, Swetaleena Mohapatra, Samartha Prusty, Soumya Gayatri Tripathy (all Bhubaneswar).
Youth boys: Tohid Haque, P Bhaskar Rao (both Cuttack).
Youth girls: Rubana Yunus, Mobina Yunus (both Cuttack).
