Gandhidham: With an intention to take table tennis to newer heights in the state, the Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA) announced an increase in the number of state rankings tournaments to be held this year.
Their Annual General Meeting (AGM) chaired by president, GSTTA, Shri Pramod Chaudhary was held at EKA Club, TransStadia, Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Shri Chaudhary announced that a total of eight state ranking tournaments will be organised this year instead of four last year and one State Championship.
“We have doubled the state ranking meets in order to provide ample opportunities for our paddlers to perform. It will also help us take the sport to remote locations,” Shri Chaudhary said.
The table tennis calendar was finalised in the AGM and the season-opener will be held in Rajkot from May 25 to 28.
Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Kachchh, Surat, Navsari, Anand and Ahmedabad are the other probable locations where subsequent tournaments will be held.
“We have hiked the total prize money of all these tournaments by 10 percent to make it attractive for the players. Every year we learn something from the last year and try to make improvements for the betterment of the sport,” Shri Chaudhary added.
In other key decisions taken in the AGM, Shri Alok Kumar Pandey (IAS) was nominated as the senior vice-president of GSTTA while Ms Tulsi Sujan of Kachchh got nominated as the vice-president of GSTTA.
“In a path breaking decision, GSTTA will lend support to district associations who have financial constraints by helping them organize camps and tournaments,” Shri Chaudhary said.
“The other highlights of the AGM included hiked DA of technical officials, new selection policy for more transparency, clarity and with the aim to perform better at national level,” secretary, GSTTA, Kushal Sangtani informed.