Ghosh turns out for Haryana, Sharath in singles only

In a departure from norm, veteran Achanta Sharatah Kamal will compete in singles only while Soumyajit Ghosh will turn out for Haryana instead of PSPB in the Senior National Table Tennis Championship starting here tomorrow.
Left out in the lurch by Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, the only two Indians in the top 100 of the world ranking, Ghosh found a right niche in hosts Haryana Table Tennis Association and will represent them in the team event.
The hands of last year's runners-up squad have been strengthened as Ghosh is in the good company of Jubin Kumr and Sourav Saha, the two most experienced paddlers.

PSPB has, however, honoured Sharath with his singles entry. Even otherwise, Sharath's preference is to play the singles, making way for young guns to boom. Sharath, making his maiden zonal appearance this season, proved his detractors wrong with a fine title win at Vizag in more than six years.
Yet, the supremacy of PSPB as reigning champions, be it in the men's section or in the women's category, hasn't been questioned for quite a while and one doesn't see that happening here either.
In other words, with a steady supply line and an excellent team ethics, the PSPB have held a sway over the Barna Ballack Cup and Jayalakshmi Cup for several years. The firepower in their arsenal is a further proof of that as Anthony Amalraj, G. Sathiyan, Sanil Shetty, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar-the youngest to join the squad-are more than good enough to lend solidity which most teams can only dream about.

For now, the contest for the men's team championships looks to rest with PSPB, Haryana and Gujarat, who did well to enter the semifinals along with Maharashtra, who have the very talented Ravindra Kotiyan, loaned to them by the Railways.
AAI, too, have a strong team and they would like their players to go beyond the quarterfinals.
Again, their women's team is minus veteran K Shamini, another first in several years as PSPB have preferred to invest on relatively young legs while mixing it with the experience of Mouma Das, Madhurika Patkar, twice zonal champion, Mousumi Paul, a bright prospect, along with reigning singles champion Manika Batra and Reeth Rishya.