Turn over a new leaf, "DR Choudhary"

 

 

YEAR 2013 is over and done with.

 

As I recall the year that went by, I can with certain authority and authenticity say that it was fruitful in more ways than one. I will begin with what our paddlers achieved in 2013 to justify my assessments. However, I will be guarded in my words lest I sound pompous.

 

For the records, we have had the best ever performance in a Commonwealth championship with a record number of nine medals. I know there was no gold in it, yet the importance of medals of other colours cannot be brushed aside. We won the men’s team silver and women’s team bronze, besides the individual brilliances of Achanta Sharath Kamal (singles bronze), Mouma Das and Manika Batra (2 singles bronze), Sharat and Subhajit Saha (doubles bronze), K Shamini and Mouma and Madhurika Patkar and Neha Aggarwal (2 doubles bronze) and last, but not the least, the mixed doubles bronze by Soumyajit Ghosh and Mouma Das.

 

Delhi girl Manika also annexed at Polish Open, a premier Global Junior Circuit event, a silver medal in the Junior Girls event at Wladyslawowo in May. India went on to add four gold and two silver medals at the Slovak Open in Senec in June. Manika, Suthirtha and Reeth helped us to win the Junior Girls team gold. Then Suthirtha won the singles gold beating Manika (silver), and then the two to claim the doubles gold. As for the boys, Abhishek Yadav, Sudhanshu Grover and Rajaskhar Rohit made India proud by winning a team silver while Abhishek and Sudhanshu claimed the doubles gold at Senec.

 

The best showing

 

The world tour at Santos (Brazil) in August was equally profitable for our paddlers. In our best ever showing at a world tour event, India won two under-21 gold (Soumyajit Ghosh and Manika Batra), silver in women’s singles (Ankita Das) and four bronze in men’s singles (Harmeet Desai), women’s singles (Manika Batra), both u-21men and women singles (G. Sathiyan and Suthirtha Mukherjee). In fact, it was more or less an Indian show at the distant Brazil.

 

Soon after Harmeet Desai reached the semi-finals of the ITTF World Tour at the Swedish Open, a major series held at Stockholm. The 2013 World Championships saw India’s mixed doubles pair Soumyajit Ghosh and Mouma Das making it to the round of 32, reasonably a good performance considering the field there. Unfortunately, Sharath Kamal, our best bet in singles, lost to Germany’s Timo Ball in the round of 64.

 

A special mention must be made about 30-year-old Mouma Das, who had two consecutive fantastic years. And the best reward for her sweat and toil came in the form of Arjuna Award which she received from President Pranab Mukherjee. Thus, she became the 24th paddler to be bestowed with the prestigious award.

 

On the organisational front, Indian Junior and Cadet Open, an ITTF premium event, was organised by the Mumbai District Association in October at Mumbai. India collected a record number of 38 medals in various categories in the best-conducted championships.

 

Apart from this, we also hosted in 2013 two more international competitions—the Commonwealth Championships, the South Asian Junior Championships where we tasted success.

 

A special mention must be made about the Dharwad District Association which hosted the Inter-Institutional championships. They readily agreed to be the hosts when it is the responsibility of one of several institutions to do the job. And what a way the Dharwad Association, a novice, accomplished the task. Its office-bearers deserve a pat on their back.

 

The zonal events—Central, West, East and North—were equally conducted well by Gujarat, Maharashtra, North Bengal and Haryana Associations, in that order. They were important for the paddlers to be in play and earn ranking points through their performances. Unfortunately, the South Zone could not be conducted because of the political issue in Andhra.

 

In March 2013, the TTFI conducted its AGM in a most democratic manner after adhering to government guidelines. PC Chaturvedi, a retired IAS officer, was elected president and yours truly as secretary-general and Mahindra Pal Singh, the treasurer. They are the principal office-bearers of the federation.

 

Setting standards

 

The 75^th Cadet and Sub-Junior Nationals were organised in an excellent manner by the Rajasthan Table Tennis association. The accommodation, playing conditions, transport and food were excellent that players and players alike applauded the efforts. The RTTA has set a new standard in organisation for others to follow.

 

But the major step that the TTFI initiated during the Ajmer nationals was catching age defaulters. During the random tests conducted on paddlers, nine players were found to be overage by the medical jurists of the Jawaharlal Nehru Government Medical College (Ajmer). The players were promptly debarred from the championships and further action by the executive committee awaits them. This move by TTFI came in for all-round praise—from the players, parents, coaches and state associations that have been suffering at the hands of a few habitual offenders.

 

The TTFI is determined to continue this step as our president, PC Chaturvedi, wants a level-playing field for all up and coming young paddlers who compete in age group events. The next season will begin with top 16 players in Cadet, sub-junior, junior and youth sections being subjected to medical examination at Lucknow/Ajmer. There were some useful suggestions from parents I interacted with at Ajmer and we will want to have a look at them as well.

 

On the technical front, I am pleased to register here the services rendered by our team of people. N. Ganeshan officiated as Competition Manager of ITTF in the 2013 Polish Junior, Slovak Junior, China Chengdu Junior , and China Taicang Junior Open tournaments. Umpires CL Thade and Deepak Savaiya got the Blue Badge status.

 

Feather in the cap

 

The TTFI now have proper representations in the ITTF, ATTU and CTTF. Our president was elected as president of the CTTF with N. Ganeshan as a member of its technical committee. Rajiv Bodas, one of our valued members, was nominated as chairman of ATTU’s Junior Commission with Titus C Philipose and N. Ganeshan as members of the Veterans’ and technical committees, respectively.

 

I too got some major responsibilities when I was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Table Tennis Federation apart from getting elected as treasurer of the Asian Table Tennis Union.

 

Though the year 2013 had a lot to rave about, the table tennis fraternity lost two of its noblest and excellent administrators—TD Ranga Ramanujam and VC Shukla, both former presidents. Anybody who is connected with the sport knows their great deeds—from helping Indian paddlers make a mark on the world scene to re-writing the definition of the game in India. They were sharp with great foresights. I can vouch from my experience, they are people hard to find.

 

As we pay tribute to the departed souls, I caution our paddlers that we have miles to go. Pull up your socks. We have a lot to achieve. And don’t lose sight of the work at hand in the New Year—the Asian Games at Incheon (Korea) and the CWG at Glasgow (Scotland), the two major Games, are staring at you.

 

Meanwhile, let me wish you all a good game in the New Year.