Harmeet Desai questions TTFI decision excluding him from singles event

India’s top-ranked men’s player Harmeet Desai has questioned the Table Tennis Federation of India’s (TTFI) decision to exclude him from the singles event at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Harmeet has been picked in the squad but will only feature in team and mixed doubles events. Veteran Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan have been picked ahead of Harmeet for the singles competition as only two entries are allowed.
“In their statement, the TTFI have said they chose the singles players based on individuals’ reputation, experience and world ranking points. It’s going to be my third Asian Games and I’ve been playing at the highest level forIndia for quite a few years so in terms of reputation and experience, there’s no problem there. In terms of ranking points, I’m the top-ranked player in domestic tournaments, and the highest-ranked Indian in world rankings. So I don’t see why I shouldn’t play singles,” he told The Indian Express.
Harmeet became the highest-ranked Indian earlier this month as a result of him reaching the semifinals of the WTT Contender in Lagos and pre-quarterfinals of the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender in Tunis and beat two top-20 players. Harmeet, who turned 30 on July 19, is ranked 64 ahead of ten-time national champion Sharath (69) and Sathiyan (88).
The Surat lad says he also wrote an email to TTFI, but hasn’t got any reply as yet.
Former national champion and secretary of TTFI Kamlesh Mehta said that at the time of the selection committee meeting on June 27, Harmeet was ranked 71, behind Sharath who was 54th and Sathiyan who was 60th.
“The deadline to submit the names was June 30. We waited till June 27 because that was when the rankings were updated. So from our side, there’s definitely no bias. We just selected the singles players as per the rankings,” Mehta said.
After the selection drama in table tennis for the 2022 Commonwealth Games where multiple Indian players including Manush Shah, Archana Kamath, Swastika Ghosh and Diya Chitale had approached the court after not being picked in the India squad, the TTFI changed the selection criteria, giving 50 per cent weightage to domestic performances, 40 per cent to international and 10 per cent given to selectors’ discretion.
Criteria in consideration
Harmeet says that as per that criteria, there’s no reason he shouldn’t play singles. However, Mehta says the singles players were chosen as per international rankings only.
“The criteria given is for choosing the team. Of course, he (Harmeet) has made the team. For the Asian Games, only two players can play singles and so naturally since it is an international event, the international rankings were taken in to consideration. Even for WTT events, international ranking is taken,” he said.
Harmeet further accused the TTFI of not maintaining consency with the way they select players for singles event.
“Last year, I wasn’t selected for singles at the Commonwealth Games even though I was higher in world ranking compared to one of the players. That time, national ranking was considered above the international ranking and I was not selected for singles. So, there is no consency in the way they select,” he said.
The Indian team for the CWG in Birmingham was selected the Committee of Adminrators (CoA), which was temporarily managing the sport at the time. The new committee took charge only in December this year.
Harmeet, who trains in Germany and plays in the Bundesliga had a fabulous year, winning the singles title at the National Games in September last year. He also won two national ranking tournaments and was runners-up at the National Championships, where he lost to Sathiyan.
Harmeet, Sharath, and Sathiyan were part of the Asian Games squad that made hory at the previous edition in Jakarta where India ended a 60-year wait for a medal securing a bronze in the team event.