A large media presence from both print and electronic on Wednesday (Spetember 10, 2014) at the press conference to announce the Reliance Asian Juniors Table Tennis Championships, beginning at the Sardar Vallabbhai Patel Stadium at Worli, Mumbai, was a pointer to the popularity of the event.

Chairperson Mrs Vita Dani and organising secretary Kamlesh Mehta, welcomed the dignitaries from the TTFI, Secretary-Gemeral Dhanraj Choudhary, Technical Director Chen and Neelakanta Ganeshsn Iyer, the chief referee, and appreciated their efforts in allotting the event to Mumbai.

She also took the opportunity to felicitate some of the table tennis stalwarts and Arjuna Awardee couples—Farookh Khodaiji, his wife Kaity, Kamlesh and Monalisa and, of course, Niraj R. Bajaj, a TT lover, player and an Arjuna Awardee all rolled into one, for their contribution to Mumbai table tennis. These former players had represented India with elan and won laurels for the country. It was a good gesture on the part of Mrs Dani to recall their services to the game of table tennis and present them with mementoes.

Khodaiji and Bajan also spoke on the occasion wishing well the players and urged them to put in cent percent effort at the home event. Their encouraging words had, indeed, come at a good time and should help the Indian continget perform better.

Ganeshan spoke on the technical conduct and the format of the championships, prescisely the way the mediapersons would want, while Chan Fong Keung, with his huge experience and knowledge, was eloquent about the TTFI and the way it had been encouraging and conducting international events.

Dharnraj Choudhary, on his part, expressed his gratitude to Mrs Dani and Mehta for their unflinching support and efforts to take up the responsibility of organisng an event of this size. Mehta’s team also came in for prasie from the TTFI secretary-general for their wonderful cooperation and understanding.

Last, but not the least, Mehta proposed the vote of thanks and wished all participants well while seeking a good coverage from the media.

All in all, the media conference was a great hit and the organisers had set the ball rolling.

ATTU exams

Thursday (September 11, 2014) was a brisk day. It began at 9 a.m. sharp with over a dozen Indian umpires taking the ATTU exams under the supervision of Messers Delano Lai Fatt of Canada and Michael Geiger of Germany.

The hour-long examination will see how well all these umpires are prepared and ready with answers to the tricky questions from the experienced ITTF examiners. The four similar sounding optonal answers can send even the best topsy-turvey, however well he or she may have prepared! One has to be extra cautious and be doubly sure to get the answer right. Reading between the lines becomes a must while one prepares for such an examination!

The exam was followed by a day-long ATTU Umpires’ Advanced Course with all those taking examination attending the class room sesson joined by others at the technical officials’ hotel confernece hall.

Earlier, the session was inaugurated by TTFI secretary-general Dhanraj Choudhary who emphasised on the need of knowledge-sharing and updating oneself on the technical issues that the umpires are often confronted with during champioships. He wished the candidates all the best.

Early birds

It was time for the early birds to catch their prey at the morning practice session at the stadium. Most teams that have arrived for the championships had 1.30 minute practice sessions on the 12 tables by rotation. The girls and boys from different Asian countires went full throttle with their coaches/offcials keenly following them. Thailand and Iran had an extended session while the Chinese were expected in the afternoon. The officials had even agreed to extend the practice session beyond 5 pm on the request of some teams.

For the home team, the organisers had made a special arrangement—alllotting them six exclusive tables—for their practice. They first opened one by one, then joined in the group hitting before indulging in serious sparring with teammates.

The technical delegates had a string of meetings lined up for the afternoon with the 3 p.m. draw, jury meeting, managers’ meet and finally the technical officials (umpires) meeting with chief referee N. Ganeshan and his co-referees in attandance.