Six ‘overaged’ paddlers disqualified from nationals

New Delhi:  The problem of overage players in national meets once again came to the fore on Saturday with six paddlers being disqualified from the ONGC cadet and sub-junior national table tennis championships, which is currently in progress at Ajmer.

Of the six, two belonged to West Bengal (Avijit Basu and Koushani Nath) and one each from North Bengal (Ritika Kundu), Assam (Shankar Gautam Barua), Himachal (Aryan) and Karnataka Rohan Jamadagni). West Bengal stand to lose a lot since Koushani Nath, seeded seventh in sub-junior singles, played a crucial role in winning the sub-junior girls’ team crown.

The team may also have to forfeit the title, but it has been left to the TTFI’s executive board, which is meeting in Patna on January 12, to arrive at a decision. If the executive board decides to withdraw the title from West Bengal, then Tamil Nadu, who finished runners-up, will be elevated to the top.

In the first lot of medical tests conducted on the second day of the championships, three players and the Mizoram team were scrapped. Meanwhile, the tournament saw some intense matches on the day.

B. Vishnu (Andhra Pradesh), Payas Jain (Delhi), Alberto, Jeho (both PSPB A), Snehasish Paul of West Bengal, and North Bengal’s Mainik Das moved into the cadet boys pre-quarterfinals. From the bottom half, only Subhra Jyoti Paul (North Bengal) and Tamil Nadu’s Kushagra Verma struggled before making the grade.

In cadet girls, Tamil Nadu’s V. Vaishnavi, Neha Kumari of North Bengal and West Bengal’s Shereya Ghosh advanced to next stage.