Manika Batra left out of squad for Asian TT Championship, rift with TTFI grows

The feud between Manika Batra and Table Tennis Federation of India seems to be worsening by the day as India's no.1 paddler has been left out of the team for the Asian Championship to be held in Doha from September 28.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, Batra, world no.56, failed to attend the national camp which was mandatory for the selection 

Batra, world No. 56 and ranked way ahead of her teammates—fellow Tokyo Olympics participant Sutirtha Mukherjee, the next best Indian player, is No. 97—did not attend the ongoing national camp, which the federation had said was mandatory for selection.

Meanwhile, the TTFI has gone ahead with lower-ranked players like Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee and Archana Kamath. Batra, on the other hand continues to train with her personal coach Sanmay Paranjape, in Pune.

The rift between TTFI and Batra started when during the Olympics, the latter refused to take help from national coach Soumyadeep Roy. When asked for an explanation for 'act of indiscipline', the youngster had revealed that Roy had asked her to concede a match during a qualifying tournament. 

Earlier, Batra had agreed to join the pre-Olympics camp only in Sonepat, when her personal coach Paranjpe was allowed. 

TTFI on its part has now made it mandatory for players to be part of national camps, in order to make it to teams for international events. 

A circular released by the federation in August read, “any player chosen for the national camp must attend it without fail, from day one till the end of the camp. Only the players that are part of the national camp before a specific tournament will be considered for selection into the national team or represent India. No player can expect any relief or leniency against attending the national camp, save for medical grounds.”