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The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) on Saturday refuted allegations leveled by India’s top-ranked women singles player Manika Batra that national coach Soumyadeep Roy asked her to concede a match against Sutirtha Mukherjee in March.
To probe the allegations leveled by Manika against the national coach, the TTFI plans to set up an inquiry panel, said Arun Banerjee, secretary-general of the TTFI.
At the Doha Asian Olympic Qualification tournament held in March, Sutirtha defeated Manika 4-2 in the women’s singles event to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
“We have asked Soumyadeep to send his response on Mainka’s allegation against him. Once Soumyadeep sends his reply we will set up a panel to probe the allegation,” added Arun, who was elected office-bearer of TTFI in February this year.
According to Arun, the incident of allegedly conceding the match took place in March at Doha’s Asian Olympic Qualification. The federation however doesn’t have any communication from Manika that the national coach persuaded her to concede the match in support of Sutirtha to qualify for the Olympics.
“Manika didn’t apprised the federation about the incident in March. We don’t have anything in black and white,” said Arun on Saturday.
TFFI has issued a show-cause notice to Manika Batra for her actions during the Tokyo Olympics
At the time of the Doha Asian Olympic Qualification tournament in March, Manika’s world ranking was 62 and Sutirtha was ranked 95.
Manika qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games on the basis of her world ranking while Sutirtha qualified for the Olympics by virtue of her win against Manika in the South Asian Zone Asian Olympic qualification event in Doha.
The TTFI issued a show cause notice to Manika on the grounds that she refused to accept national coach Soumyadeep during matches at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Arun said Manika, in her response to a show cause notice issued by TTFI last month, had alleged Soumyadeep asked her to concede the match against Sutirtha.
“After Manika’s allegation we have asked the national coach to send his response to the federation,” added Arun.
Manika wanted her personal coach to be seated during the matches in Japan and not the national coach, said Arun.
Manika’s outburst has further widened the rift between her and the TTFI. It would also send the wrong message to the upcoming players, said a senior TTFI official.
“Manika has raised the issue of allegedly conceding a match at the Asian Olympic Qualification now. This is possible to put pressure on the TTFI as she has been issued a show cause notice for being indisciplined at the last month’s Tokyo Olympic Games,” said the TTFI official.
