The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has decided to make a bid for the 2024 World championships with the support of the Union Government.
The TTFI secretary, M.P. Singh, the TTFI advisor, Dhanraj Choudhary and the newly elected president of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Association, Vivek Kohli said the federation has already sounded its intentions to the key officials of the International Table Tennis Federation recently, receiving a positive response.
The bid process is to start next year and the next big step, besides making an attractive presentation, is to rope in the support of the Union Government. The Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs has been benign in offering all possible help for the development of the game across the country through the last three years, enhancing the financial outlay for table tennis to Rs 12 crore last year. "We are hopeful that the Government will also support us in bringing the World championships back to India."
The important task of the TTFI, in the next few months, would be to ensure the qualification of the Indian men’s team for the next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. With this in mind, the TTFI has already lined up a coaching camp for the side in China, prior to next month’s Asian championships in Indonesia. This will be followed up with a camp each in Germany and Portugal before the team qualification process is held in the latter country in January 2020.
Efforts are also being made to help Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra to get a qualification spot in the Olympics in the mixed doubles event. India is currently ranked No. 11 in the world in the men’s section, offering 16 spots in the quadrennial extravaganza.
Comments
SHARE