600 set to participate in TT Championship from Oct 14

Kanpur: Approximately 600 paddlers, including a few international-level players, will participate in the TSH 3rd Stag Global UP State Ranking Table Tennis Championship, scheduled to be held at the TSH multipurpose hall from Oct 14 to 16.Sanjeev Pathak, president of the UP Table Tennis Association, said that 24 events, including men's, women's, Under 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 boys' & girls' singles, and Veterans 39+, 49+, 59+, 64+, 69+, 74+ men's & women's categories, will take place during the three-day tournament. The winners, runners-up, and semi-finalists will be awarded cash prizes and medals, with the total prize money amounting to 1.5 lakhs.Pathak said that the men's and women's group finals would be held on Oct 15, as the finalists had to participate in the National Championship scheduled to be held in Goa from Oct 18. Divyang Srivastava of Lucknow and Anika Gupta of Ghaziabad have been given top seedings in the men's and women's groups, respectively.Two local paddlers, Adwit Gupta and Satyam Giri Gupta, have been seeded 5th and 8th in the men's section. The tournament also features two international-level players in the men's section- Divyansh Srivastava of Lucknow and Sath Mishra of Ghaziabad. A total of 96 players have entered the men's section, while 66 are in the women's section.Geeta Tandon, an international TT player, mentioned that eight players from Kanpur have received seedings in different groups, all belonging to the men's or boys' categories. The UPTTA will also honor its renowned players on Oct 15. Atin Rastogi of Lucknow, an international umpire, has been appointed as the chief referee, while another international umpire, Sanjay Tandon, will serve as the competition manager.P K Srivastava, director of operations at TSH, stated that matches would be played on 13 tables, with 12 tables for round matches and one for the finals and semi-finals. R P Singh, Sanjay Tandon, Ashutosh Satyam Jha, Suryansh Mishra, Ashish Kapoor, Saurabh Srivastava, and others were present on this occasion. tnn