Twenty countries for Commonwealth TT

Twenty countries for Commonwealth TT
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, MARCH 30: About 20 countries, including hosts India, have confirmed their participation in the 15th NTPC Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships which are scheduled to be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here from April 14 to 20.

Last edition’s team events winners England (men) and Singapore (women), will be among the top teams vying for honours in the championships which assume greater importance in view of the 46th World Championships being held in Osaka (Japan) from April 23 to May 6, immediately after the New Delhi event.

The participating teams will be divided into four groups for the team events which will be held in two stages (league and knockout). The top two teams from the first stage will advance into knockout.

Australia, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Canada, England, Ghana, India, Maldives, Malaysia, Mauritius, Northern Ireland, Nigeria, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, Scotland, Sri Lanka and Wales. ‘‘Pakistan’s participation is subject to the Indian government’s approval,’’ Table Tennis Federation of India secretary general, Mool Chand Chowhan, said.

Perhaps, keeping in mind the recent controversy over whether the Indian cricket team should participate in Sharjah where Pakistan is also playing, has forced the TTFI to take a defensive stand.

The TTFI had earlier conducted the Commonwealth Championships in Bombay in 1982 and Hyderabad in 1994. With the inclusion of table tennis as a medal event in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester next year, the New Delhi edition could be the last to be conducted on behalf of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation.

In the last edition held in Singapore in February last year, Indian men had finished fourth behind England, Singapore and Canada while the women were fifth after Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand. Four-time national champion Chetan Baoor won the bronze medal in men’s singles while he had teamed up with his PSCB-mate S Raman to retain the men’s doubles gold medal which the pair had first won in the 13th edition at Glasgow in April 1997.

Draw for the team and individual events will be held here on April 11.Baboor is No. 86: India’s Chetan Baboor has been ranked No. 86 in the world rankings for the top 100 players for the month of March 2001. China’s Liqin Wang leads the list followed by team-mates Linghui Kong and Lin Ma in that order.