Surat, Sept 19: A seven-year gap is too long a period for any premier event to see its restoration. Nevertheless, one is happy that the National Games got revived yet again, thanks to the benevolence of the Gujarat government. On paper, the duration and regulations of the National Games are two years. However, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)—the custodian of the Games—has never been able to maintain the cycle for more reasons than one. It could be the budget constraints of the hosts and infrastructure or even the hefty fines imposed on it for non-compliance.

After Kerala conducted the last Games in 2015, Goa bid to host the next in 2016. The change of state government in Goa forced the delay in 2017, followed by the unpreparedness in 2018, and the parliamentary elections in 2019 pushed the Games to 2020 before Covid-19 intervened to take its toll. So much so, the doubts of Goa hosting the Games lingered with no certainty anywhere in sight. That’s how a proactive Gujarat government offered to host the 36th edition, with excellent infrastructure already in place across its six cities—Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, and Gandhinagar. The National Olympic body jumped at the opportunity and instantly gave its nod.

As a result, the 36th edition of the Games kickstarts here tomorrow with the table tennis team events at the Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya Indoor Stadium. The eligibility of the top-eight teams for participation at the Games is based on the performance of the Meghalaya Nationals. However, for the draw, they have been ranked based on the best three players’ ranking points. The open draw, held this afternoon, points to a tough men’s team match-ups with Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, and Telangana all pooled in Group A, while Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh. and Karnataka form Group B.  

For the records, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, respectively, won the gold in the men's and women’s team events in Kerala. But Tamil Nadu, despite the presence of A. Sharath Kamal and G. Sathiyan in the singles, have not qualified to compete in the team event here. Harmeet, the CWG gold medallist in the men’s team, was a part of Gujarat’s team that ended up with a silver medal in the team event in Kerala.

Gujarat’s strong line-up of Harmeet Desai, Manush Shah, Manav Thakkar, and Chitrax Bhatt start as the favourites for the team title, while for the coveted women’s crown it could be a face-off between Maharashtra and West Bengal. Bengal also has a strong men’s team, led by Aakash Pal, Anirban Ghosh, Ankur Bhattacharjee, Jeet Chandra, and Ronit Bhana. However, one cannot rule out the possibility of Haryana men nudging out the others in their group to make it to the second-stage knockout.

As for Maharashtra, they have a strong women’s team in Anannya Basak, Shruti Amrute, Diya Chitale, Reeth Rishya, and Swastika Ghosh, the last three named are part of the squad that will compete in the World Championships in Chengdu later this month. Bengal, on the other hand, will rely on the experienced Mouma Das, also the runner-up at the Nationals, Ayhika Mukherjee, Prapti Sen, Suthirtha Mukherjee, and Takeme Sarkar. Mouma Das was also a team member when Bengal grabbed the silver in 2015.

All these portend that Gujarat and West Bengal are the teams to watch out for this time provided the two veterans manage to shoulder the extra burden of their teams’ prospects. Gujarat has done an excellent job to paint the city with the announcement of the Games through banners and cutouts, besides providing all the facilities for the players and officials. All in all, it’s good to see the revival of the National Games and even better with the start of table tennis.