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STANFORD UNIVERSITY, Palo Alto,
CA SF Bay area
Team India Performs Creditably inspite of lack of support
from Indian Table tennis federation Officials
Sam Rao
Palo
alto, California: Although the Chinese
Boys and Girsl dominated the recently concluded World junior Table
Tennis Championships at, Team India (Girls) performed creditably during
the event held during December 8-15th . the Maples Pavilion at Stanford
University
The four
person - all girls- team representing India at the championships were
entered into the individual girls table tennis event. Soumi Mondal,
Neha Aggarwal, Sanya Sehgal and Divya Deshpande arrived just a day
before their games and had to fit in practice and “settling’ in at the
hectic schedule of the World championships, held for the first time in
the USA. Last year, the event was held in Cairo, Egypt.
The event
which had officials from the International Table tennis federation
(ITTF) and over 34 countries represented presented the best upcoming
table tennis players at the Championships, and spectators could sense
the presence of the ‘next era’ champions in their midst. 92 boys
and 92 girls participated in the Under-18 years Championships, which
had individuals, doubles, mixed doubles and team medals on the line.
Champion
Ms. Yang Yang beat compatriot Ms. Wen Jia of China, while similarly for
the boys Jeong Sang Eun of Korea beat Xu Ruifeng of China in the
Boys’ Singles. The doubles championships for girls were an all
China affair, while the Chinese team dominated the Japanese team in the
boys doubles.
Ms. Soumi
Mondal, a diminutive player from Kolkotta accorded herself best among
the Indian contingent, by qualifying from her group and beating
Slovokian Andrea Daubnerova while taking a set off from eventual
Silver medalist Mu Zi of China. Modal further advanced one
more round by beating Russian teenager Valeria Lemeshevskaia, playing a
very creditable game, fighting back from a 3-0 deficit in a best of
seven match, eventually winning 4-3. Mondal’s play drew loud applause
form many in the stands, prompting a Ted Fong, Chinese American
gentleman to nod approvingly and complement Mondal saying, ‘ She’s a
great fighter.” Mondal eventually lost to Korean Kim Min Hee who
reached the quarterfinals.
Each of
the other players also performed creditable in their group matches,
winning a game against fancied opponent, while battling with the
eventual qualifier from their group. Neha Aggarwal beat Atha Fong (USA)
and lost to qualifier Yuko Fujji of Japan; while Divya Deshpande beat
New Zealand’s Helen Chan and lost to the popular Mirela Durak of
Croatia. Sanya Sehgal drew a tough draw losing to eventual Gold
Medalist Yang Yang of China and gave a tough 3-1 match to Czech
Republics Hana Matelova.
While each
of the player was well received by the crowd which included several
Indian-Americans like Narendra Nayak and his 11 year old son Avinash;
the support by the Indian Table Tennis Federation and officials was
inadequate. The official coach, former player Niyati Shah of
Chennai was appointed just a week ago and the team manager was local
table tennis coach Rajul Sheth, who volunteered for the job, again in
the last week. Unfortunately, the coach of Team India was not observed
spending much time with players, and even arrived late for the
important match of Soumi Mondal- the only Indian player to advance to
the qualifier rounds.
The
official flooring for the entire tournament was provided by STAG
International of Meerut India, with Vikram Kohli in attendance.
Said
attendee Narendra Nayak, who made sure his son was in attendance every
day after school, “ This is incredible to have a World Championship in
our own backyard. I am glad that my son is able to witness such high
quality table tennis and learn a few pointers.”
Neha Aggarwal
Sanya
Sehgal
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Soumi Mondal
Divya Deshpande.
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Four Girls from India to
Compete in WORLD JUNIOR
Table Tennis Championships
Dec 8- 15
Palo Alto, California: Four
young women
will represent India at the World Junior Table Tennis Championships
2007. They
are are Neha Aggarwal ; Soumi Mondal , Sanya
Sehgal and Divya Deshpande.
The
World Junior Table Tennis Championships (WJTTC) will be held at
Stanford
University on December 8th – 15th. This is the first time the event
will be
held in the United States, with the best boys and girls age 18 and
under
competing for a total of seven world titles. <
style="font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">
A
totsl of sixteen Girl’s teams and
sixteen Boy’s teams, with 96 girls and 96 boys, will play for world
titles in
Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Boy’s and Girl’s Teams’ categories.
The
most recent WJTTC was held in Cairo, Egypt in December of 2006.
Organizing
committees for the event include Area Sports Organizing Committee
(BASOC),
International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), and U.S. Table Tennis
Association
(USTTA)
“We’re
very pleased to be able to announce the teams and players coming here
in December”,
said BASOC President & CEO Anne Warner Cribbs. “We guarantee
they will
find an outstanding venue in Stanford to compete, and spectators should
plan onbeing
truly amazed at the skill and excitement they will witness in this
World Championship.”
Dennis
Davis, Event Director and President of the Palo Alto Table Tennis Club
explains,
“We are very honored to host the junior players of the world. Our
organizing < style="font-family:
helvetica,arial,sans-serif;">committee
has been working very hard to welcome these outstanding players to the
San
Francisco
Bay Area and we are looking forward to showing our communities the
skill, strategy
and expertise involved in playing Table Tennis, making Table Tennis the
fastest growing
sport in the United States.”
ITTF
President Adham Sharara said, “We are looking forward to the first Table
Tennis
World Championship ever in the United States. The 192 boys and girls
coming to Stanford
have competed for years to play in this event. They are incredible
athletes who
will
represent our sport, themselves and their countries with distinction”.
In
addition, President Adham Sharara will conduct the ITTF (International
Table Tennis
Federation) Executive Committee meetings during the World Championships
and officials
representing each continent are slated to attend.
“The
U.S. Table Tennis Association is
honored
and proud to be working with ourInternational
Federation, BASOC and Stanford University in hosting this tournament
for the
first time in our country. The popularity of the sport in the United
States is
growingand
the caliber of our play is increasing. We’re confident that our Juniors
will
continueto
improve and eventually compete at the highest levels of the game,” said
Mike Cavanaugh,
Interim Executive Director, USA Table Tennis.
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