India’s star paddler and double Olympian Soumyajit Ghosh will lead the country’s charge in the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour India Open qualifying rounds that get under way here at the Thyagaraj Stadium on Tuesday.
14 year old Japanese prodigy Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan in action before the ITTF WORLD TOUR India in New Delhi .
The former national champion will be vying along with 16 other Indians to get into the main draw of the $150,000 India Open, the highest prize money table tennis tournament in the country.
A number of world class players, including No. 5 DimitrijOvtcharov of Germany and No. 8 Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus will be seen in action in the men’s section; on the distaff side, the Hong Kong duo of World No. 14 Doo Hoi Kem and No. 19 Ching Lee Ho will be the star attractions in the event organised by 11Even Sports with the support of Table Tennis Federation of India.
Table tennis fans will be eager to get a glimpse of Japan’s 14-year-old prodigy Tomokazu Harimoto also, who became the youngest world junior champion in 2015. He is the top seed in the under 21 section as well.
India’s fans will have a lot to cheer for, with India’s number one in men’s and women’s categories — AchantaSharath Kamal and ManikaBatra — getting direct entries into the main draw along with former national champions Mouma Das and Ankita Das as well as prodigy Ayhika Mukherjee.
Soumyajit Ghosh, the World No. 82, will launch his campaign against compatriot Jeet Chandra; he will take on Ali Alkhadrawi later in the day and will fancy his chances of lasting till the end of the weekend.
As many as 36 players will be aspiring for a place in the tournament proper. They have been divided into 10 groups, with the winners of each group sailing ahead. The second-placed finishers will have to play and win one more match each to make it to the knockout stages. The 16th place, the last slot, will go to one lucky loser.
Portugal’s Joao Geraldo, as the current World No. 74, is the top seed in the qualifying rounds. He will be up against the Indian duo of Arjun Ghosh and ManavVikash. Another Indian hope Sanil Shetty has been drawn in Group 4 and will face-off against countryman RohitBhanja and LubomirJancarik of Czech Republic in his bid to enter the knock-out stages of tournament.
Anirban Ghosh is another Indian star who will be aiming to qualify for the knock-out stages. He is placed in Group Three but has the arduous task for overcoming third seeded Tianyl Jiang of Hong Kong in his first match. He will then take on Saudi Arabia’s Abdulaziz Al-Abbad in his second match in this round.
Harmeet Desai has been drawn alongside fellow countryman Birdie Boro, TakutoIzumo and Tzu-Hsiang Hung of Chinese Taipei in Group Seven, while World No. 84 Quentin Robinot of France will be up against Omer Avi-Tal of Panama and Anthony Amalraj and Utkarsh Gupta of India.
SNAPSHOT
First ever ITTF tournament in India
Number of Participating Countries: 18
Number of Participants: 80
Number of Indian Participants: 34: 18 (Men); 16 (Women)
Prize Money: $150,000 (Highest prize)
About 11Even Sports Pvt. Ltd.
11Even Sports Private Limited (ESPL) is a Mumbai based company exclusively formed for the promotion and development of the game of Table Tennis in India. The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has entered into a 10-year agreement with ESPL to develop the sport from the grassroots to the professional level.
ESPL, under the auspices of TTFI is committed to increase the footprint of Table Tennis in India. ESPL aims to take the love for Table Tennis beyond courts, make it mainstream and redefine the standards of the game. ESPL has won the bid to organize the first ever ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) World Tour Event in India, the India Open in February 2017.
ESPL has previously supported 5 National Ranking Tournaments, 2 National Championships & 2 International Tournaments. ESPL has also successfully executed the Mumbai Super League, the Inter School State Championship across 19 states in 2015 & 28 states in 2016 and the National Inter School Championship in both 2015 and 2016.