TT camp near Singur

While TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee was raising the pitch on the Nano project in Singur, just 10km away, an organisation for mentally-challenged children 8212;8216;Kishalay8217; in Naseebpur 8212; has launched a one-of-its-kind table tennis coaching camp for 20 kids, all mentally disabled. This camp is a follow-up of a bigger camp for mentally-challenged kids conducted last summer by the Bengal Table Tennis Association BTTA in Kolkata from May 15 to June 14.

BTTA general secretary Subrata Dey, meanwhile, rubblished suggestions from certains sections of the TT community that the initiative was no more than just a gimmick. He said: 8220;No, we don8217;t believe in that. We deeply feel for them the kids participating and that is why we came up with this programme, despite limited resources.8221;

The BTTA has installed a world-class TT board at the camp, manufactured by Meerut-based makers Stag. Mantu Murmu, who coached the kids at the summer camp in Kolkata, is in charge of training the children.