India’s top table tennis player Harmeet Desai says he has been “unjustly” banned from singles competition for the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou. Harmeet, a key member of the Indian table tennis team for the past 10 years, has been selected in the Asian Games squad, but will only appear in team and mixed doubles events. Veteran Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan have been picked ahead of Desai for the singles competition as only two entries are allowed. “It will be my third Asian Games and according to the selection criteria, which includes both domestic and international appearances, I should also play singles and not just team and doubles,” Harmeet told PTI.
The 29-year-old from Surat became the top ranked Indian on Tuesday after a productive month last month as he reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender in Lagos and pre-quarter-finals in WTT Contender in Tunis.
He also defeated two top-20 players along the way. He is now in 64th place ahead of Sharath (69) and Sathiyan (88). However, when the team was selected on June 27, Desai (71) was behind Sharath (54) and Sathiyan (60) in the ITTF ranking.
According to the selection criteria of the Table Tennis Federation of India, 50 percent weight is given to domestic performance, 40 percent to international and 10 percent is left to the discretion of the selectors.
TTFI Secretary General Kamlesh Mehta said the selection committee’s decision was unanimous and players were picked for the singles event according to the international rankings at the time of selection.
“It was a unanimous decision of the selectors who took the world rankings into account at the time of the selection,” said Mehta, himself a former India player and winner of Arjuna.
The deadline for submitting player entries to the Indian Olympic Association was June 30 and July 15 for sending to the Olympic Council of Asia.
Another federation official following the case said the current selection policy is in place for choosing the squad and entries for individual events will be sent according to the international rankings.
Harmeet’s home state of Gujarat has also written a letter to TTFI expressing its disappointment at the non-selection of the player for the singles event.
“The current non-selection of Harmeet Desai coupled with his omission from the CWG 2022 Men’s Singles event, ignoring his ranking and performance, has shocked him and has been a shock to us at the State Association,” said Pramod Chaudhary , President of Gujarat State Table Tennis. Association, said in the letter dated July 9.
“Harmeet, who is in top form, will undoubtedly put in his outstanding effort and performance to represent the country and to ignore all the positives at this stage would be a major downer.
“According to the information, the latest date for sending entries by the Indian Olympic Association to the Organizing Committee of the Asian Games is July 15, 2023.
“Therefore, we hope that the selection of players can be adjusted and players can be selected based on their current ranking and performance,” he added.
Harmeet, Sharath and Sathiyan were part of the Asian Games squad that made history at the previous edition in Jakarta, where India ended a 60-year wait for a medal by taking bronze in the team event.
Sharath and Manika Batra made the campaign more memorable by taking bronze in mixed doubles.
Prior to last year’s Commonwealth Games, multiple Indian players including Manush Shah, Archana Kamath, Swastika Ghosh and Diya Chitale had approached the court after not being selected in the Indian squad. Only Chitale succeeded in overturning TTFI’s decision.
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