Sharath the cynosure in SZ meet

India’s top paddlers Achanta Sharath Kamal and Poulomi Ghatak will be the cynosure in the South Zone National ranking table tennis championships which begins at the Sree Kanteerava indoor stadium on Tuesday.

The qualifying rounds are scheduled on Tuesday while the main draw kicks off on Wednesday.

Around 700 paddlers will battle it out for the top honours in the six-days meet which conclude on Sunday (September 9). Competitions will be held in ten categories — Men, Women, Youth Boys, Youth Girls, Junior Boys, Junior girls, Sub-junior Boys, Sub-junior Girls, Cadet Boys and Cadet Girls.  Among the notable players who will be missing from action in the men’s section include current national champion Anthony Amalraj, Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai.  However, the presence of Sanil Shetty, Soumyadeep Roy and G Sathiyan will add to the competitive quotient in the men’s draw. 

In the women’s section, apart from Ghatak, Olympian Ankita Das, K Shamini, Divya Deshpande and Mouma Das will be the players to watch out for.  The championship will have a total prize money of Rs 5,76, 000. The men’s singles champion will receive Rs 66,000 while the women’s winner will get Rs 55,000.