Alappuzha, June 16: With a berth in the Indian squad for the September 1-6 Asian Junior Championships in Laos at stake, every contender in the fray for the 83rd Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships starting from tomorrow at the YMCA facilities here will strive hard to reach the podium.

It will be just the beginning of the better things to come for the paddlers. The qualification in Laos will put them on the aircraft to their final destination, Tunis, for the December 4-11 World Youth Championships. A platform like the World Youth Championships could be the ultimate prize for a player aspiring to hog the limelight on bigger international stages.

The 365 Youth Girls (177 and 187) in the Under-17 and U-19 categories during the three-day event will try and outdo each other in both sections with the sole motive of not just winning the trophy but also sealing a place in the squad for the Asian Juniors, first up.

Another incentive for the girl paddlers is that these Junior and Youth Championships will restore parity on the prize money front, as the Committee of Administrators (CoA) has envisioned. Though the CoA announced the prize money on equal terms to take effect from next season, the Table Tennis Association of Kerala (TTAK) has taken the lead a season ahead.

Addressing the media conference this afternoon, the president of TTAK, N. Ganeshan, said that the organising committee of the championships decided to offer the increased prize money—Rs. 6.60 lakh—as a gesture to honour the CoA’s decision.

Both reigning Youth champion Diya Chitale and Junior champion Swastika Ghosh, citing personal reasons, have opted out of the championships. Their absence will be the gateway for the rest of the field to jump into the Team India gravy train to make an impact and impress the national selectors during the championships.

The top eight ranked players, enjoying the direct main-draw entry, have their tasks cut out. All eyes will be on Suhana Saini of Haryana, who is likely to be seeded No. 1 in the U-17 category. She will have to compete with the likes of Kavyashree Baskar of Tamil Nadu, Pritha Vartikar, Jennifer Varghese, Taneesha Kotecha and Risha Mirchandani of Maharashtra, Lakishita Narang and Riddhima Kapoor of Delhi. On their day, any one of them is capable of upsetting the applecart.

In the Under-19 category, Suhana is yet again would gain the top-seed slot, but she will have to do more in this section to outwit Yashaswini Ghorpade of Karnataka, who is in a good form. Besides, the Haryana girl will have to contend with Nithyashree Mani of Tamil Nadu, Anargaya Manjunath, also from Karnataka, and Munmun Kundu of West Bengal. This is apart from the usual contenders in Pritha, Taneesha and Radhapriya Goel of Uttar Pradesh.

The boys get their acts together on June 21, after the girls' events get over on June 19.

According to the competition department, A.S. Kler will be the chief referee for the championships with T.G. Upadhya as his deputy. The championships will also see 45 other technical officials, including Blue Badge, international and National umpires.

Mr N. Ganeshan said that the competition department will use 16 Stag tables and balls during the seven-day championships.

District collector Dr Renu Raj will inaugurate the championships at 10 a.m. tomorrow, with Olympian Ambika Radhika as the guest of honour.