Sans top stars, East Zone TT meet set to kick-off

Paddlers in need of valuable points will look to cash in on the National Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the R. Dengthuama Multipurpose Indoor Stadium here from Monday.

Around 500 players will take part in the meet hoping to make it to the state squads for the forthcoming nationals though most of the men's top players have skipped the tournament for different reasons.

This will be the first major championships that is to be held in the new stadium.

Among the top names, the South Zone champion Sharath Kamal, West Zone winner G. Sathiyan, Central Zone winner Harmeet Desai are absent. But the reigning national champion Anthony Amalraj will be present.

Amalraj will begin the tournament as the for the title. Giving him resistance will be southpaw Sanil Shetty and Devesh Karia.

All but one top player in the women's singles will be competing here as national champion Manika Batra has chosen to stay away as she is playing in a tournament abroad.

Suthirtha, Madhurika Patkar, Pooja Sahasrabudde, Mouma Das and K. Shamini along with Poulomi Ghatak should make the women's affair very interesting.

--IANS

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