Paddler Manika Batra and coach Soumyadeep Roy's matter to be heard on September 11: TTFI Secretary General Arun Banerjee

The ongoing rift between paddler Manika Batra and national coach Soumyadeep Roy will be heard on September 11, according to the Table Tennis Federation of India's (TTFI) Secretary General Arun Banerjee.

Manika Batra has alleged that Soumyadeep Roy had asked her to fix a match during the Tokyo Olympic qualifiers held in March.

TTFI Secretary-General Arun Banerjee told the media on Thursday:

"We will call Manika and coach Soumyadeep Roy on September 11 and we will have a meeting with both of them and then we will decide what to do. We will assign a committee on this matter on the same day and they will find all aspects pertaining to this matter and after the committee investigation we will decide what to do further.

"We hope the committee will submit their answers on the same day and we will take further steps on the basis of their investigation. Meanwhile, Soumyadeep will also be required to submit his part to us. Both of them claim that they have proof against each other. We will see on the hearing day what proof they have and on what basis they are talking," Arun Banerjee added.

Manika Batra's allegations against coach Soumyadeep

Earlier, the Table Tennis Federation of India had issued a show cause notice to Manika Batra regarding her refusal to take help from her coach during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Batra then alleged her coach Soumyadeep forced her to lose a match against one of his students during the Olympic qualifiers.

🇮🇳's ace paddler, Manika Batra, while responding to TTFI's show-cause notice, has reportedly accused the national coach, Soumyadeep Roy of pressurizing her to lose a match in the Olympic qualifiers.She mentioned this as the main reason for her to refuse his help at #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/61cs5XUGzM

— Sportskeeda India (@Sportskeeda) September 4, 2021

The paddler cited match fixing as the reason why she refused to take his services as a coach during her singles match at the Olympics.

Batra scripted history by becoming the first TT player from the country to reach the third round at the Games before losing to Austria's Sofia Polcanova.