Domestic table tennis season commences with North Zone Championship

After a year of a lull, the National Ranking Table Tennis Championships gets underway on Monday, with the North Zone Championship at the Tau Devi Lal Multipurpose Stadium in Panchkula.

The North Zone Table Tennis Championship is divided into two parts - the first will be for the men, women and youth groups while the second part will have the age-group championships.

Reigning national champions Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra have opted out of the zonal event.

With the defending champions not taking part, India's top-ranked table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal, who was the runner-up at the National Table Tennis Championship last year, will be the top seed in the men's group. Sreeja Akula has been given the top billing in the women’s category.

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In the men's group, Manav Thakkar, Soumyajit Ghosh, and Sanil Shetty will follow Sharath Kamal as the next seeds while Harmeet Desai, Anthony Amalraj, Ronit Bhanja and Sushmit Sriram have been placed in the 5-8 brackets of the seeding list.

In the women's group, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Ayhika Mukherjee and Reeth Rishya are seeded behind Sreeja. Takeme Sarkar, Anusha Kutumbale, Krittwika Sinha Roy and Prapti Sen will come in the 5-8 seeding brackets.

The National Ranking Table Tennis Championship, a regular feature until 2019, could not be held last year with COVID-19 affecting all activities, including sports.

These events not only prepare the paddlers for the National Table Tennis Championships but also provide them with valuable points for selection into the national squad.

Sharath Kamal will be the main attraction at this event

The main attraction at this event will be Sharath Kamal, the top-ranked Indian in the world at No. 32, who is most likely to make his appearance on the second evening.

It will be interesting to see the 39-year-old nine-time national champion motivating himself to stay in the thick of the action.

He will undoubtedly spearhead the Indian challenge at the World Championships in Houston, scheduled to be held from November 21.

The North Zone Table Tennis Championships is just a precursor for Sharath, where he will look to sharpen his skills before participating in the WTT Contenders in Slovenia in preparation for the Houston Worlds.

As for the entries for the North Zone, there are 253 and 161 in the men’s and women’s categories, respectively.

Apart from the top 16 male paddlers, the rest divided into 64 groups, will play the qualifiers.

Similarly, leaving aside the eight women's seeds, the remaining players will compete in 40 groups to book their slots in the main draw.