Gita Mittal, chairperson of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) appointed to run the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), on Sunday urged the coaches in the sport to be objective and fair while making selections and assessments.
Mittal and the two other members, Chetan Mittal and S D Mudgil, were appointed by the Delhi High Court to run TTFI after the federation was suspended earlier this month.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra filed a petition in the Delhi High Court after she was not included in the team for the Asian Championships. TTFI had excluded her as she did not attend the national camp before the event.
“I have a request to make, that you must look at only the ultimate that is teaching your student to play the game in the spirit of the game,” said Mittal, who virtually interacted with TT coaches from across the country, alongside the two other members of the CoA.
“I would request each one of us here that we will teach ourselves to be totally dispassionate, be absolutely objective, and fair in nurturing the talent.
“Not only nurturing, if we are given an opportunity to make selections, we will exercise the same duty of care by making the selections.”
“We will not fault you have a favourite, but while making assessments, evaluations, selections, please let only the best be chosen.”
Batra had also accused national coach Soumyadeep Roy of match fixing during the Olympic qualifiers in Doha in March 2021.
She said Roy “pressurized” her to “throw away” an Olympic qualifier match in favour of one of his personal trainees.
Her refusing Roy’s help for her singles matches during the Tokyo Olympics had triggered the sequence of controversial events. She had said that she was uncomfortable taking help of a coach who allegedly asked her to fix a game.
“We must create subtle and light enabling environment, where every student is treated with equality, with due respect and also that dignity is given due care,” Mitall, a former Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, said.
The three-member CoA also asked the coaches for suggestions and feedback.
“The CoA is to look at seeing how we can do something to enable coaches also to get regular training and expertise so that they can deliver better so far as the Indian players are concerned.”
With the COVID-19 restrictions easing, Mittal said that the CoA is also looking at resuming national tournaments soon.
“March is a hectic month as most international tournaments are scheduled then, so organising national tournaments at the same time we will not have the best players, which will not bode will with the national TT schemes.”
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