Time for Indian paddlers to shine in front of home crowd

A great opportunity awaits for a group of young and experienced Indian paddlers to sizzle in front of the home crowd and bag a rich medal haul in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships that gets underway here tomorrow.
A formidable challenge for the hosts in this edition of the event would come from Singapore, who has much higher ranked players in their squad.
But if the Indian paddlers get favourable draws, it could well turn out to be a remarkable championship for them.
Singapore have completely dominated the last two editions of the championship -- 2007 and 2009, finishing first in all the categories except for men's doubles event.

However, the field has lost its sheen to some extent because of the absence of big players like two-time defending champion Gao Ning of Singapore and English suo of Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall, who have opted out due to club commitments.
Australia, Canada and Scotland will also be fielding a relatively young side for the championship.
Leading the Indian challenge would be country's most experienced campaigner Achantha Sharath Kamal, who is also the highest ranked player for the hosts.
Sharath and his doubles partner, Subhajit Saha, would be determined to defend their title which they won in Glasgow last time around.