Open and shut case: Indians gain the most!

 

 

New Delhi, February 13:  The Seamaster ITTF World Tour India Open, beginning here at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex from tomorrow, may have failed to attract either the Chinese or the Koreans but it has undoubtedly provided a good opportunity to showcase India’s changed perception in conducting big-ticket table tennis events.

 

It may take a few such tournaments and a few years down the line before India establishes itself as a reliable nation to organize events of this magnitude with a prize purse of $ 120,000 and upwards to satisfy ITTF to be able to grab a permanent spot in its annual calendar besides proving table tennis powerhouses of our noble intentions. With Seamaster as title sponsors, the India Open could see the prize money going up to $1.50 lakh, thanks to ITTF largesse.

 

 

Nevertheless, the loss of Chinese and Koreans is the gain of paddlers from 17 other countries that form part of the 80-player list, with 52 men and 28 women confirming their participation, including the many Indians. Among the field that offers a good fight include World No. 5 Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany along with No. 8 Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus.

 

Dimitrij is no stranger to the country, having won the India Open just before the 2010 Commonwealth Games when the event was part of the ITTF Pro Tour. Indeed, Japanese have a good representation here, sans No. 1 and world No. 4 JunMizutani, as Koki Niwa (ranked 19th), Yuto Muramatsu (24) and Yuya Oshima (39) will lead their country’s challenge.

 

As for the Indian interest, a large presence of our paddlers, without a doubt, makes a good advertisement to the sport as well as presents a great opportunity to the players of competing at a level different from what most of them are not accustomed to so far. The junior paddlers will especially gain from the exposure.

 

A. Sharath Kamal, country's highest-ranked player at 62 in the word, is the lone direct entry in the men's singles draw. But the rest will have to go through the process of qualifiers before they are graded for the main draw which will be played on a knockout basis.

 

Like national champion Sharath, other former champions such as Soumyajit Ghosh, Anthony Amalraj and Sanil Shetty, G. Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai do agree that this is the best chance that has come their way while in India. “We will try to make the best use of it,” was the common refrain from them.

 

 

Voicing his opinion on the event, Sharath said: “It really feels good. A big event like this will eventually get noticed by the table tennis world. If we have more such championships it will automatically lure bigger players to them. It’s a question of confidence-gaining.”

 

In comparison, the women players’ entry may not be very encouraging. Yet, the presence of world No. 13 Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, the highest-ranked player in the women's draw, followed by compatriot Lee Ho Ching (24) is a good boost for the Indians as Manika Batra, at world No. 88, will be leading the Indian challenge. The former national champion is seeded 10th, ahead of teammates Mouma Das (12 seed), Ayhika Mukherjee (14th seed) and Ankita Das (16th seed).

 

The qualification rounds will be held on the first two days with as many as 29 Indians figuring in to compete for a ‘reasonable’ main draw spots to enable them to progress further during the knockout stage.

 

The main draw, which begins from February 16, will be of 32 players in both men and women singles with the top 16 getting a direct entry into the main draw. Apart from men and women, there will be competitions in the U-19 Boys and Girls sections, too.

 

For the New Delhi event, IITF has nominated Didier Leroy as the competition manager, an old and experienced hand, and N. Ganeshan, as referee. They will be assisted by one deputy referee and five Blue Badge umpires from overseas and other technical officials drawn from the host country nominated by TTFI from its vast pool of Blue Badge and Blue Bade Progressive umpires.