Guwahati, January 15: We are in the last leg of the domestic calendar-the 75th Junior and Youth National Table Tennis championships, beginning here at Deshbakt Tarun Ram Phukan Indoor Stadium from Tuesday.

Normally, the event would have been held sometime in December, but reasons beyond the control of TTFI forced the championships to January, much after all the zonal events as well as the Senior National Championships at Patna last week.

Nevertheless, the importance of the championships has not diminished even one bit, thanks to a large number of participation by teams with nearly 450 players competing here from across the country. That speaks volumes of the championships which always assumes significance because the selection of Indian teams to various international competitions, including the Asian Junior championships, has always been based on the performance the players in these events.

But, most importantly, Maharashtra A and Tamil Nadu, who finished winners and runners-up in the Junior Girls section, respectively, in the last nationals at Indore, will want to retain their place if not, the latter try and upstage Maharashtra to claim the top podium finish. The other teams in fray too will want to put their best foot forward to make a mark. As for the Junior Boys, the PSPB Academy has the wherewithal to retain the title while West Bengal will try and upset their applecart.

As for Youth Girls, the dominance of West Bengal will be severely tested by the Andhra Pradesh girls who have top paddlers breathing down their neck. In the Youth Boys’ category, both PSPB Academy and Tamil Nadu, the winners and runners-up last year, are strong but they cannot dismiss the presence of other teams.

All the teams have been divided into eight groups with three or four teas each with the top two teams making the cut for the second stage. In fact, all the group toppers in the eight groups should go through without any hassle while the fight will be for the second spot in their groups.

The finals of the team events will be held on Friday followed by the qualification matches in singles events. The singles finals, with a big prize purse awaiting the players, will be played on Monday, the concluding day of the championships, when we are in for some surprises.