Table tennis star Manika Batra has alleged that national coach Soumyadeep Roy asked her to throw a match during the Olympic qualifiers in March and that was the main reason she refused his help in the singles competition of the Tokyo Games, sources in the sport’s governing body said.

Responding to the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI)’s show-cause notice, Manika, the sources said, denied that she brought disrepute to the game by refusing Roy’s help.

According to TTFI sources, Manika stated she would not have been able to focus on her game if someone who had asked her to fix a match was sitting by her side.

“The national coach had pressurised me during the qualification tournament in Doha in March 2021 to concede my match (against Sutirtha Mukherjee) to his student to enable her to qualify for Olympics — in short — to indulge in match-fixing,” the sources quoted Manika as stating in her reply.

Despite repeated attempts, Roy was not available for a response to the allegations.

The player-turned-coach has also not been asked to join the ongoing national camp and has been told by TTFI to present his side of the story.