Bengal will be banking on Ankur Bhattacharjee and Syndrela Das to win the top honours when the 85th UTT youth and junior inter-state table tennis championships begin at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
The nine-day meet will end on January 14.
While the 2006-born Ankur will be seen in action in the under-19 category, Syndrela — a product of the Dhanuka Dhunseri Soumyadeep Poulomi Table Tennis Academy — will feature in both the under-17 and under-19 categories.
Syndrela, 14, has been in rousing form. She won three titles at the Vadodara national ranking championships in November. Here she will have the support of teammates Ditsa Roy, Nandini Saha and Saanvi Roy.
More than 30 teams and 1,300 paddlers will be participating in the tournament organised by Bengal State Table Tennis Association.
However, there is some concern for the organisers. An equipment-laden truck was stuck near Dhanbad and may not make it to the venue before midnight. Sharmi Sengupta, the BSTTA secretary, hoped the championships would begin on time.
