Rape-accused Soumyajit Ghosh suspended by TTFI, out of CWG squad

03/24/2018

The Table Tennis Federation of India has suspended Soumyajit Ghosh until the report in the investigation of his alleged rape case comes out, which was claimed by his ex-girlfriend. The suspension and the investigation process means that Ghosh will now not be able to take part in the upcoming CWG.

Ghosh’s chances of participation in the upcoming Commonwealth Games are almost negligible now after the TTFI decided to keep him suspended provisionally during the course of the rape allegation filed against him. Earlier, an 18-year-old girl had lodged an FIR in Barasat, on Wednesday, accusing the youngest national champion of raping her on a false promise of marriage.

“The Executive Board (EB) of the TTFI has placed Soumyajit under provisional suspension, pending final outcome of the police investigation and court verdict, if any, on the alleged rape charges against him by a teenager,” TTFI said in a statement as quoted by TOI.

After the matter came into the light by the media TTFI secretary MP Singh called an emergency EB meeting on Friday, where they decided to hand him the suspension after consulting with legal experts. They also decided to issue a show cause notice to the player and wanted him to explain his stand on the FIR lodged by the girl.

“We saw the media reports and the FIR filed against Soumyajit and unanimously decided to suspend him. He won’t be able to participate in any tournament until the investigation is over,” Singh told TOI.

After Ghosh’s suspension, TTFI is not in the good position as the incident made it difficult for them to send a five-member team to the CWG in Gold Coast in Australia. According to the Commonwealth Games’ rules, a replacement can only be acceptable if a selected player is injured or sick. TTFI has sent a letter to the Indian Olympic Association yesterday and have requested them to discuss the matter with the CWG Organizing Committee so that they can include Sanil Shetty as Ghosh’s replacement.

However, an IOA official ha also informed that there is no such provision and it would be an impossible task for CWG Organizing Committee to give a replacement option for Ghosh who was sure to play the doubles and was also very keen to play one of the four singles matches.

“Now that he is off and we are reduced to a four-member team, the pressure will be much higher on Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan, Anthony Amalraj and Harmeet Desai. It will not be possible for us to rotate a player in case somebody is short on form or suffers an injury,” a TTFI source said.

Rape-accused Soumyajit Ghosh suspended by TTFI, out of CWG squad

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