‘We will take the table tennis title again’

Defending champions India confident of winning South Asian junior event.

KARACHI: Despite the absence of India’s top U18 table tennis player Abhishek Yadav, number two Utkarsh Gupta believes that his team will successfully defend its South Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championship title in the event starting on Wednesday in Islamabad.

“Yadav is representing India at the Youth Olympics, but we are confident that we will win, as we have been practicing with international teams,” said Gupta while talking to The Express Tribune from Islamabad.



Gupta will be supported by Lalrinpuia and Sabhya Virmani.

“Lalrinpuia and I have been participating in this championship since the last five years, but Virmani will play his first.”

India have been defending the South Asian title for the last two years, while Pakistan won third position in the last edition at New Delhi, India.

“This time, Pakistan seem well prepared and also have home advantage, so they can prove to be tough opponents,” added Gupta.

Nepal and Bangladesh were able to receive a five-day training session from South Korean coach Yang Young Ja. On the other hand, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives missed the final session as Yang left Islamabad early Tuesday.

“We missed the training session, but I believe we are well prepared and we also conducted our own training session on Tuesday morning,” explained Gupta.

Meanwhile, Chief Organising Secretary Shahid Baloch assured that all participating teams have been provided the best available security.

“The international contingents – both male and female – will be given extraordinary accommodation at the Pakistan Sports Board Allama Iqbal hostel, while Pakistani female players will reside at the Fatima Jinnah Hostel,” informed Baloch.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2014.

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