Indore, September 8: Pullouts by strong teams like Singapore and Thailand may have put a spanner in the works of 11Even Sports 2015 India Junior and Cadet Open Table Tennis Championships, beginning at the Abhay Prashal here from tomorrow, making the event utterly Indian in more sense than one. It has nevertheless thrown down the gauntlet for several Indian young paddlers to accept the challenge and carve out a niche for themselves against the best in the two sections.

However, the foreign showdown for the Indian lot will come from teams like Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In fact, the previous edition of the ITTF’s premier Junior Circuit event at Goa added charisma to it, thanks to the presence of Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Iran as these teams provided a very good competition to all participants, especially the Indians, prior to Nanjing Youth Olympics.

With just four teams from abroad this time, the job of draw was made easier for Australian Jens Lang, on his third visit to India with the first assignment as ITTF’s competition manager. Except for the Junior Girls, which is a four-team event to be played on a round-robin league format, the other categories-Cadet Boys, Cadet Girls, Junior Boys-with six and eight teams were divided into two groups with Indian presence impregnable in A to G teams. Besides, there is a mix of India-Bangladesh squad as well in the Junior Boys section.

In other words, 57 Indian paddlers will be in action across all groups both in the Junior and Cadet events. These boys and girls were at a three-week national camp at Lucknow, preparing for the India Open with coaches trying out various permutations and combinations.

The Madhya Pradesh Table Tennis Association (MPTTA), the organizers, was optimistic about the sweep of medals-10 gold medals on offer here-in team events of Junior and Cadet Boys and Girls as well as in singles apart from the two doubles (Junior Boys and Junior Girls) finals. “We are thrilled to host the championships at our premises (Abhay Prashal) in a good environment. Players enjoy coming here because of the comfort, in terms of accommodation and playing conditions,” said Jayesh Acharya, tournament director and also the secretary of MPTTA.

If Singapore’s A team prevented India from team medals sweep in Goa last year, Thailand’s Padasak Tanviriyavechakul won the Junior Boys singles title while Singapore’s Shao Feng Ethan and Hui li Tay took the Cadet Boys and Girls titles, respectively. In fact, even the doubles gold in junior sections went to the Thai-Kazakh combination in the Boys category and the Malaysia-Thailand paddles claimed the Girls doubles gold, leaving lesser medals for India.

Undoubtedly, the absence of these teams this year must have come as a shot in the arm, although it has taken the sheen off the contests. However, the Indians are not complaining as they see in it an opportunity to score a point or two over their nearest rivals at home. 

“In fact, it has given a good prospect for some of the fringe players. Appearing in India colours and getting early exposures like these will do a world of good to several of our players,” said TTFI secretary-general Dhanraj Choudhary.

STAG synthetic flooring, tables and Butterfly plastic balls will be used during the five-day event with the team finals scheduled on the second day, Thursday, and the singles finals on Sunday. 

The competition manager from Australia will have the services of referee C.L. Thade, deputy referee Koh Tia Poh (Singapore) and assistant referee A.S. Kler along with 15 Blue Badge, international and national umpires during the championships.  

The Groupings:

Cadet Boys: Group 1: India A, Bangladesh, India E; Group 2: India B, India C, India D.

Cadet Girls: Group 1: India A, Kazakhstan, India D, India E; Group 2: India B, India C, India F, India G.

Junior Boys: Group 1: India A, Bangladesh A, India C, Nepal; Group 2: Saudi Arabia, India B, India-Bangladesh, Bangladesh B.

Junior Girls: India B, India C, Kazakhstan, India A.