Stage set for National Ranking Table Tennis Tournament in Puducherry

Table tennis player Reeth Rishya in action. (PC: Reeth Rishya)
Table tennis player Reeth Rishya in action. (PC: Reeth Rishya)

The UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Tournament (South Zone) will commence at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Puducherry on Monday (December 20).

The last time Puducherry hosted a table tennis ranking event was in 2015.

The table tennis ranking events have their characteristics, laying the foundation for a player as a pathbreaker to build in many ways. In that sense, the National Ranking Tournament is a challenge for the participants and the inexperienced but enthusiastic hosts, with a new set-up at the helm of affairs.

The onus is on the players to prove their mettle in the absence of the three big guns. Achanta Sharath Kamal recently went through a knee procedure and is recuperating, while Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra will also be absent.


Read: Sanil Shetty, Sutirtha win titles at National Ranking Table Tennis Championships


More than 1,800 table tennis players have registered for the National Ranking Tournament.


Table tennis champions in focus

The focus will undoubtedly be on the national champions and runners-up, Sanil Shetty, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Manav Thakkar and Reeth Rishya. The South Zone National Ranking Table Tennis tournament presents another chance for the finalists to lift silverware.

Joint top-seed Manav Thakkar, who was rendered a mute spectator in the final at Dehradun, gets his chance to avenge the loss, as it does to Reeth Rishya.

There are a total of 216 men and 151 women table tennis players in the fray for the senior events. This also means that competitions to qualify for the main draw will witness intense battles in the 64 and 40 groups, respectively.

However, the top eight seeds in either section will relax a bit until the qualifiers’ lists are known. Once the main draw begins, it will be business as usual for everyone involved.


Read: Table Tennis National Ranking Championships: Vishwa, Swastika win U-19 titles


Equally intriguing will be the Youth Under-19 encounters in both sections. It will be particularly interesting for Indian players who made a mark in recent international tournaments, including the Portugal World Championships.

Delhi’s Payas Jain, ranked No. 3 in the world, will be itching to go against Tamil Nadu’s Vishwa Deenadayalan. In the Under-19 girls category, Maharashtra’s Diya Chitale would want to settle a score with here state rival Swastika Ghosh.

Tamil Nadu’s Nithyashree Mani and Taneesha Kotecha, the semifinalists, will be breathing down their necks to grab the opportunity.

Haryana’s Suhana Saini’s forte is her consistency. Returning from the Portugal Worlds with three bronze medals, she entered the arena without rest at Dehradun. Saini demolished the opponents to claim the gold in the U-17 girls category and will be the one to be beaten.

Ankur Bhattacharjee from Bengal will go hard at his second title with Tamil Nadu’s Preyesh Raj Suresh lurking around the corner right from the word go.

In all, the National Ranking Table Tennis Tournament (South Zone) offers paddlers a chance to hog the limelight from Monday.


Also read: Table tennis rankings: Manika Batra, Archana Kamath achieve best-ever World No. 10 spot

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Edited by Anantaajith Raghuraman