Canadian TT squad for Commonwealth Games

Olympians Pradeeban Peter-Paul and Mo Zhang will lead Canada's eight-member table tennis team at next month's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Both Peter-Paul and Zhang, who are from Ottawa, won medals at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro and competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Other athletes named to the team for the Oct. 3-14 Games include Pierre-Luc Hinse and Xavier Therien of Gatineau, Que., Andre Ho of Richmond, B.C., Sara Yuen of Ottawa, Carmen Lee of Vancouver and Anqi Luo of Mississauga, Ont.

Yongjun Duan, a quadruple medallist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, will coach the team.

"Our younger athletes will face a steep learning curve at the Games," Tony Kiesenhofer, director general of Table Tennis Canada, said in a release Wednesday.

Canada's best medal chances rest with Zhang in women's singles and the men's team event, Kiesenhofer said.

The Commonwealth Games will attract more than 4,000 athletes from 71 nations and territories.

Games' TT test event from 16-June

The $100,000 test event for Commonwealth Games TT venue will be played at the state-of-the-art Yamuna Sports Complex.
Sharath, whose ranking plummeted 91 after a huge loss of 21 positions, would look to regain form and score some vital points.
Indian paddlers, led by Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal, will try to get a hang of the venue as Pro Tour India Open Table Tennis Championship - a test event for the Commonwealth Games - begins from Wednesday.


Besides Sharath, Indian men's line-up consists of former national champion Subhajit Saha, Sourav Chakraborty and Soumyadeep Roy.

The event will see players from 13 countries including Pakistan, Chinese Taipei, Germany and Russia, competing.

Reigning woman national champion Poulomi Ghatak and her doubles partner Mouma Das are coming into the championship after a good show at the recent World Championships in Moscow and would pose a good challenge for their rivlas.

For Kumaresan Shamini, who lost the tag of country's numero uno player to Poulomi, the event provides a good opportunity to reassess her game.

The Indian paddlers have already undergone a week-long training camp at the venue under the watchful eyes of national coach Massimo Constantini of Italy and Bhawani Mukherjee, who is chief SAI coach.

"The camp was very fruitful and all the players are also in good condition. We are expecting some good performance in the tournament," Mukherjee told PTI.

Also, there will be young paddlers like G Sathiyan, Aman Balgu and Soumi Mondal who have the ability to pull off upsets.

The top 16 players in the men's and women's section will be directly placed in the main draw and the remaining 16 spots will be up for grabs at the qualifying events.

"There will be eight competition tables for the tournament and 10 international umpires from abroad to conduct the event", Dhanraj Choudhary, Secretary General of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI)said.

Competition Manager Didier Leroy of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) said, "I'm happy to be in india for the event. As countries like Japan, Korea are participating we expect good competition. Moreover, prize money is also high."

The tournament will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Sheila Dixit.

Feng Tianwei targets clean sweep in TT

Feng Tianwei has confirmed her attendance for 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi in Oct this year.

The 23-year-old, who helped Singapore win their first Olympic medal in nearly 50 years when she claimed a silver in the team event in Beijing in 2008, is targeting a clean sweep in India.

"I am nervous, a bit scared but I want to win the Gold medals," an excitable Feng told in her first interview in English before an exhibition match at a primary school in the city state on Tuesday.

Athlete safety has been a huge concern and talking point for the New Delhi Games, which will be held between Oct. 3-14.

India has been on alert since terror attacks in Mumbai in late 2008 and several sports teams have refused to travel to the country since, citing security concerns.

The Chinese-born paddler, however, is focusing on the task of emulating the efforts of her country's predecessors who won four gold medals on offer to the women at the 2006 Games in Melbourne.

"Yes there is extra pressure (because of the 2006 success)," Feng said. "But we can do it in singles, doubles, mixed and team, four gold medals."

Indian TT probables for CWG2010

The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) named 25 probables for the Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010. The probables will also be representing the nation in various international events till the mega event in October.

Those selected include Sharath Kamal, Soumyadeep Roy, Subhajit Saha, A Amalraj, Sourva Chakraborty, Soumyajit Ghosh, Zubin Kumar, R Abhishek, Sanil Shetty, Devesh Karia, G Satuyan, Harmeet Desai, Poulami Ghatak, Madhurika Patkar, Divya Deshpande, K Shamini, Pooja Sahasrabudhye, Ankita Das, Mamta Prabhu, Mouma Das, Neha Agarwal, Soumi Mondal, A Niveditha, Mallika Bhandarkar and Prajakta Tipale.

The selection committee meeting, attended by Kamlesh Mehta, Mantu Ghosh, Manjit Dua, Mir Qasim Ali, Indu Puri, DR Choudhary, VK Bawa and national coach Bhawani Mukherjee, also named Sharath Kamal and Poulami Ghatak for the Asia Cup, to be held in China, from March 18 to 21.