Manika Batra not a part of team in Asian TT Championships

On Wednesday, Indian star paddler Manika Batra was left out of the Indian squad for the Asian Table Tennis Championships starting from  September 28 in Doha as she did not attend the mandatory national camp in Sonepat.

In the absence of the Indian player who is currently world number 56th player, 97th-ranked Sutirtha Mukherjee will take lead of the women’s team. The other members in the team are Ayhika Mukherjee (ranked 131) and Archana Kamath (132).

On the other hand, the men's team will be led by Veteran Sharath Kamal (ranked 33) in the company of G Sathiyan (38), Harmeet Desai (72), Manav Thakkar (134) and Sanil Shetty (247).

"The Table Tennis Federation of India had made it clear that any player not attending the camp will not be considered for selection. The team was picked on Wednesday and was subsequently published on TTFI website", reported News18. 

As per sources, Manika had already informed the federation that she would like to keep continue the training with her personal coach in Pune.

"The Khel Ratna awardee has also made match fixing allegations against national coach Soumydeep Roy for asking her to throw a match during the Olympic qualifiers. TTFI has formed an inquiry panel to probe the allegations", reported News18.

Players in the Men’s team: Manav Thakkar, Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty.

Players in the Men’s doubles: Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan; Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai.

Players in the Women’s team: Sutirtha Mukherjee, Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee, Archana Kamath.

Players in the Women’s doubles: Archana Kamath and Sreeja Akula; Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee.

Players in the Mixed doubles: Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath; Harmeet Desai and Sreeja Akula.