Asian Table Tennis in Lucknow from tomorrow

Lucknow: Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal and reigning national champion Kumaresan Shamini will lead a somewhat depleted Indian challenge when the 19th Asian Table Tennis Championship gets underway here tomorrow. The Indian challenge lost some bite when woman Olympian Neha Aggarwal, who is struggling for form, failed to make the final squad and former national champion Subhajit Saha was ruled out due to injury. World number 70, Sharath, fresh from a three-month special training programme in Germany, would be the hosts` best bet in the week-long event, which is being held in the country for the third time. Before Delhi stages the Commonwealth Games next year, this is considered to be one of the most important events to test the paddlers` preparations. "We will play in the (Asian) Championship with an intention of giving our best performance with the major target (2010 CWG) in our mind," Indian coach Massimo Constantini said recently. "Asian Championship is going to be toughest competition for us. Playing at home is never easy, sometimes it is an advantage but sometimes not at all. There will be high expectations from us," the Italian said. Apart from regulars like Sourav Chakraborty, former India number one Poulomi Ghatak and her doubles partner Mouma Das, the selectors have also decided to try some young hands in Jubin Kumar, Pooja Sahasrabhudhe and Divya Deshpande. In team event, the Indians are expected to have a smooth ride to the knock-out stage as both the men and women`s teams have been handed easy groupings for the preliminary round. Indian men are clubbed with Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Jordan in Group B of the First Division, while their women counterparts would play Nepal, Laos and Kazakhstan in Group D. However, in the singles and doubles events, the hosts would face some stiffer challenges and they would surely try to capitalise on home support. Men`s competition will feature world number five Wang Liqin of China, Japanese Mizutani Jun (12th) and Cheung Yuk (15th) of Hong Kong, while Chinese aces Li Xiaoxia (3rd), Liu Shiwen (4th) and Feng Tianwei (7th) would be the main attractions in women`s events. The tournament, which would be held at the 4,000-seater Uttar Pradesh Badminton Academy in Gomti Nagar, will have eight categories, including two team events, singles, doubles and mixed doubles. India has earlier hosted the Asian Championship twice — in 1980 (Kolkata) and in 1992 (New Delhi). Bureau Report