The Gujarat State Table Tennis Association (GSTTA) has increased the prize money of its marquee event, the State Championships, by a massive 115 percent. This decision was taken at the Annual General meeting held at Sports Club in Ahmedabad on April 27.
Also, the prize money of state ranking tournaments has been increased by 80 percent. Additionally, Gujarat becomes the first state to introduce prize money in the Inter-District Team Championships for the winning teams.
Apart from approving more prize money, the committee has come up with big plans for state’s promising U-9 paddlers as part of their effort to continue to make an impact at national and international level.
The Hopes (U-9) category, which was introduced last year in the state tournaments as a promotional event, has been made a mandatory event at all state tournaments.
GSTTA president Pramod Chaudhary said that the association will have a talent hunt identification system in place wherein state’s promising U-9 paddlers will be identified and provided with educational, financial and technical support.
“We have continued to make significant strides in the all-round development of the sport across the state. We successfully hosted prestigious events, including an International tournament, Senior National Championships, the Junior & Youth National Championships and the Para National Championships. We also organized the Coaches and Umpires’ seminars,” Chaudhary said.
“With the aim to build a strong foundation, we will tap talented players at a young age hence have thrown more weight behind the U-9 category,” Chaudhary added.
GSTTA secretary Hari Pillai disclosed that 10 districts/affiliated units have shown interest in conducting the ranking tournaments ascertaining the rise of popularity and reach of the sport.
“We kick off our State Ranking Tournaments with Bhavnagar meet (June 5 to 8) followed by 2nd State Ranking in Gandhidham (June 26 to 29), 3rd State Ranking in Anand (July 10 to 13) and 4th State Ranking in Jamnagar (July 24 to 27). The remaining schedule will be decided after allocation of national tournaments,” Pillai informed.
At the AGM, it was announced that Sabarkantha district association will conduct a state ranking tournament for the first-time event in Himmatnagar.
Navsari District Table Tennis Association and Kachchh District Table Tennis Association will be conducting prize money tournaments for U-19 and U-15 category respectively.
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