Paddlers from East Singhbhum put up an impressive show at the three-day state table tennis selection trials which concluded at JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi on Sunday.
East Singhbhum’s Archita Dey topped the cadet girls’ (under-12) and sub-junior (under-15) categories by edging out district-mate Aadya Chouhan and Dhanbad’s Anjali Kumari. Soumil Mahato proved his mettle in the cadet boys’ section by tripping Jamshedpur-mate Arunabh Saha.
Pratik Agarwal of Hazaribagh claimed the top slot in the sub-junior boys category by prevailing over Nitin Kumar Mehta of Garhwa.
East Singhbhum players continued with their dominance in the trials for junior girls and boys (under-18) section thanks to Saniya Bannerjee and Karan Raj who beat Suhani Sharma (Ranchi) and Dinesh Selvam (also from Ranchi), respectively.
Suhani, however, compensated her loss in the junior section by topping the youth category with a fluent win against Hemlata Sinku of Dhanbad. East Singhbhum’s Mrinmaya Pradhan excelled in the competition for boys by outsmarting his Hazaribagh rival Kumar Shresth.
Monisha Mukherjee outclassed East Singhbhum’s Chandni Kumar to top the senior women’s category, while Shivaji Roy of West Singhbhum won the honours in the men’s section by putting it across Ranchi paddler Somir Chakraborty.
Expressing happiness, East Singhbhum District Table Tennis Association secretary U.K. Chatterjee said they were confident about the performance of the paddlers.
“Keeping their performance in mind, our players are all set to find berths in the national championship for different age groups. Though they (players) were out of action for a long time due to the pandemic, they excelled during the trials in Ranchi,” Chatterjee added.
According to him, Jharkhand squads for different age categories would be announced in due course of time. “A training camp may also be conducted,” he said.
The selection trials were organised by Jharkhand State Table Tennis Association by following strict Covid protocols. Keeping the social distancing aspect in mind, trials were held in the singles category. Plastic bottles (including water bottles) were banned. Only players with valid ID cards were allowed to take part.
