Junior paddlers leave for Slovak and Polish Open

New Delhi, May 23 (IANS) An eight-member team of Indian paddlers left for the Slovak Open Global Junior Circuit table tennis championship that starts in Senec Friday.

The team, comprising five boys and five girls, will also travel to Wladyslawowo in Poland subsequently to play in a premium event starting May 28.

The twin tours are meant to give the team members much-needed exposure and advanced coaching before the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship slated for September in Mumbai.

The boys team of Abhiskeh Yadav, Lalrin Puia and Utkarsh Gupta along with Ayhika Mukherjee, Priyadarshini Das and Akula Sreeja have been cleared at government cost while Sabhay Virmani and Riti Shankar at no cost to government.

"We wanted to give the boys and girls some coaching as well as match practice before the Asian Junior championships in Mumbai. The match experience in both the global circuit events will help our paddlers even in September," said Dhanraj Choudhary, secretary-general of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).

Coaches Vijayasarathi Seshadri and Jyoti Shah are accompanying the players on the twin tours which conclude June 1.