JOIN USSoumyajit Ghosh has been rewarded for his excellent form this season with the top slot in men’s singles event at the ongoing National table tennis championships here on Wednesday.
And for the first time in many nationals, Achanta Sharath Kamal has been denied the top seeding, despite being the only Indian paddler in world’s top-100 list.
Sharath, whose current world ranking is 70, was seeded no 6 at the Institutional Championships last August, which was also the season opener.
On the other hand, Soumyajit Ghosh was seeded no 5 at the Lucknow nationals but has since grown in stature by winning most zonals.
In contrast, national champion Anthony Amal Raj, who was the no 2 seed at Lucknow, has dropped down to no 5 here.
According to the seeding list released on Wednesday, all the top four seeds are from the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, with both Sanil Shetty at no 2 and Soumyadeep Roy at no 3, ahead of Amal Raj.
In women’s singles, the first four slots have been taken by PSPB paddlers — national champion Poulami Ghatak, K Shamini, Ankita Das and Madhurika Patkar — followed by Divya Deshpande (Mah-A), Manika Batra (Del).
All these top players will be seen in action when the main draw begins on Thursday.
The men’s winner will get Rs 2.30 lakh while the women’s champion will carry home Rs 1.45 lakh from the total prize purse of Rs 9.58 lakh.