By Meinam Amit Singh
SHILLONG, April 13: Bad roads leading up to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) NEHU Centre, unfinished work on the floor boards, Table Tennis boards in transit – these are just a few of the innumerable problems that might give headaches to the Meghalaya Table Tennis Association (MTTA) which is organising the 83rd National Table Tennis meet in the city at SAI Indoor Training Centre, NEHU from April 18-25, 2022.
Time is of the crunch, and the officials of the MTTA are doing all in their power to make the first ever senior level table tennis championship in the Meghalaya a success.
“We are not yet ready to host such a big event but we have taken up the challenge,” General Secretary of the MTTA Chiranjib Choudhury candidly admitted.
Choudhury, however, thinks that the event will be a success as the association has the support of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs.
Meghalaya has hosted sporting events of national standard in the past. However, these were mostly junior level events, which according to Choudhury “are not a problem to host, but for this event we have to maintain a minimum standard.”
The event was scheduled for January 21 this year but due to the pandemic, was pushed to April 18.
“The Sports Ministry, Government of India, with special permission has allowed us to conduct this event in April and finish by May,” Choudhury said.
“We were ready for the event in January. All the hotel bookings and other preparations were done then. But the event was called-off due to the pandemic,” Choudhury added. “Now we had to do the same preparations in a month’s time.
The short time given for the preparation has also caused a delay in receiving equipment. “As of now, we have still not received a truck full of shipment coming from Meerut,” the MTTA general secretary said. The time crunch has also forced the organisers to resource floor mattings as “the sponsors refused to provide mattings in such a short time.”
On the days of the event, the MTTA has arranged for buses to transport the players from the city to NEHU SAI Centre.
“Every morning about 3-4 buses will leave the city with the players. Thereafter, the buses will be available on an hourly basis. The players will have all the bus timings available to them through their managers,” Choudhury informed.
The MTTA will also have shuttle service available from NEHU gate to SAI centre, which would be free of cost.
Another challenge that could hinder in the smooth functioning of the tournament is the traffic situation in Shillong. “We have spoken to the SP Traffic to sort out the traffic problems,” he added.
A contractor working on the bad roads leading up to the venue informed The Shillong Times that the project was given to him quite late.
“I just got the order to fix the roads last week, and so the repair work being done is temporary.”
“Many contractors hesitate to take up projects inside NEHU as the payments are usually delayed. However, I took the contract as this project is half sponsored by SAI, and I know I will be paid on time by SAI,” the contractor added.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya Table Tennis players are upbeat and excited about the upcoming tournament.
Suranjit Dey, captain of the Meghalaya team, said the opportunity to rub shoulders against the likes of Sharath Kamal Achanta, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will be a privilege.
“As hosts, I feel, we have some advantage as we will have earlier access to the venue and that would help us to acclimatise better,” Suranjit said.
“We will give our best in the event. Competing against players of international standard will be tough but we will fight it out,” Meghalaya’s No.2 ranked paddler, Anubhav Dutta said. Anubhav feels that the team to look out for in the tournament is the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board.
Rituraj Shabong, the oldest player in the Meghalaya camp said the team has been practicing well.
“We are currently in a 14-day camp and the preparations are on course. Hopefully, our preparation bear good result,” Shabong added.