Many top Indian players including current national champions Dia Chitle and Commonwealth Games gold medalists G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai will take part in the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis tournament starting here from September 7. So far 2958 players from different age groups have applied to participate in this important national level tournament.

The Delhi State Table Tennis Association (DSTTA) is hosting a national ranking tournament for the first time since 2008, although the Indian Table Tennis Federation organized a tournament in the national capital in 2012 in collaboration with Haryana. The tournament will be played from 7 to 14 September at the Tyagraj Stadium. Players will participate in 12 events including Senior, Under-19, Under-17, Under-15, Under-13 and Under-11 categories.

Players participating in the men’s category include several former national champions like Sathian, Harmeet, Anthony Amalraj and Soumyajit Ghosh. Ghosh did not play for the national team for personal reasons after attending the London Olympics in 2012. In the women’s category, Chitle is being considered as a strong contender for the title, in which she will get a tough challenge from experienced Mouma Das, Madhurika Patkar, Reeth Rishya and Divya Deshpande.

India’s star player Manika Batra, who played for Delhi, is not available for this tournament, as he is busy with international competitions. DSTTA President Gurpreet Singh said, “So far 2958 applications have been received, which shows how much people are interested in this tournament. I do not remember when so many applications came for a national ranking competition last time. We are fully prepared to host this competition. ”

The organizing committee also consists of National Coach and Dronacharya Award winner Sandeep Gupta. Gupta said, “So many national champions are participating in this competition. This is a great opportunity for young players of Delhi to learn from them.