Nine-member team lead by Kamal for Asian TT meet

New Delhi, April 7: A nine-member Indian team, led by national champions Achanta Sharath Kamal and Madhurika Patkar, will participate in the Asian Championships to be held at Wuxi in China, beginning on Sunday.

The other team members are Soumyajit Ghosh, G. Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty, Manika Batra, Suthirtha Mukherjee and Mouma Das. 

The team members are accompanied by foreign expert Massimo Costantini and coach Arup Basak with a support staff in physiotherapist Kishore Dey. 

For the first time in recent years, the Sports Ministry has also sanctioned a sparring partner in defensive player Lalrin Puia, who will stay during the entire duration of the championships between April 9 and 16.

Except for Sarath Kamal and Ghosh, all other players had participated in the Thailand Open before arriving in Shanghai on April 4 for a short camp where they had an intense training session, according to foreign expert Massimo.

"The team members are in good shape and they are bolstered by the arrival of both Sharath and Ghosh," said Massimo before leaving for Wuxi.

For the prestigious championships, International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has nominated Ganeshan Neelakana Iyer, a familiar face on the Indian circuit, as the competition manager with Atul Dubey from Rajasthan as one of his deputy referees.