Wanted: Level playing table for TT giants

There was a time, not long ago, when Indian Airlines and the Banks8217; Sports Board boasted of the cream of Indian table tennis and were a...

There was a time, not long ago, when Indian Airlines and the Banks8217; Sports Board boasted of the cream of Indian table tennis and were a force to reckon with in the inter-institutional championships.

The Banks team had such veterans as Kamlesh Mehta, Sunil Babras, C R Anand, G K Vishwanath and S Sridhar among the men, and B Bhuvaneswari, M S Mythili, Kanchan Dhawan, Ritu Bhola among the women. Airlines had in their ranks Chetan Baboor before he shifted to PSPB, R Hari, Rajat Kathuria, Chandramouli, Prem Bedi and Sujay Ghorpade.

On Monday, the opening day of the five-day inter-institutional championships at Talkatora Stadium, Airlines were conspicuous by their absence, as also four other teams Central Civil Services, Postal, Ordinance Factories and Department of Atomic Energy in the men8217;s section.

Dhanraj Choudhary chairman of the technical committee cited Durga Puja as the main reason for the absence of the five institutions from the competition. 8216;8216;Most teams missing here have at least a couple of players from West Bengal. They preferred to celebrate the festival at home rather than undertake a trip to Delhi,8217;8217; he argued.

But Babras, now coach of the Banks Sports Board team, feels lack of talented players and a change in recruitment policies have undermined Airlines and BSB in recent years.

BSB still depend largely on the experience of former junior international Deepak Thukral and N Arul Selvi; and Rinku Acharya, who won the national women8217;s title a decade ago, is still part of the BSB squad.

8216;8216;The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board PSPB and Railways have the cream of TT players because they can employ players even at the age of 17-18, which banks can8217;t. We can only take such players on scholarships,8217;8217; Babras conceded.

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With the best players going to PSPB and Railways, and a dwindling talent pool, other institutions pose little threat to their dominance. So for years now the inter-institutional championship has been a two-team competition.

So is there any solution? Babras has one: 8216;8216;Instead of all banks or petroleum units coming under one wing, different banks and units could participate as individual teams. It would encourage more players and also create better job opportunities.8217;8217;

Secretary general Mool Chand Chowhan has another: An incentive for other teams to do well at this tournament. There is a plan, he says, to allow semi-finalists to take part in the nationals from next year; currently only the two finalists are given entries.