Kerala State table tennis championships to be a combined affair this time

Almost a year ago, at its last executive committee meeting, the Table Tennis Association of Kerala decided to conduct three State championships, in various age groups, to make life easier for the young players who were forced to play over 20 matches a day in a combined championship.

Unfortunately, the change will not happen this time.

Once again the Kerala State table tennis championships, which will be held in Kozhikode from January 1 to 5, will be a combined affair.

“There were too many events… Nationals, back-to-back zonal and school tournaments. And many of our players were playing the zonals, so we could not have separate State championships this time,” Michael Mathai, the secretary of the TTAK, told  Sportstar on Tuesday.

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Strangely, the State championships are being held after the senior Nationals, which concluded in Panchkula, Haryana, last week.

“We had selected the men’s and women’s teams for the senior Nationals as per the latest rankings,” explained Michael.

The association is now in a bit of a hurry to finish the State championships since the junior and youth Nationals begin in Kolkata on January 6.

“We are likely to have the under-17 and under-19 events on the first day of the State championships, we will take these ranking points also into consideration to select the team for the (junior and youth) Nationals,” said Michael.