Tokyo Olympics: Will TTFI take action against Manika Batra for denying national coach's assistance?

Manika Batra is India's top paddler but was knocked out in her Round 3 match against Sofia Polcanova of Austria. Notably, she refused to take the guidance from national coach Soumyadeep Roy during the matches, which could mull TTFI to take action against her.

Team Newsable

New Delhi, First Published Jul 27, 2021, 5:43 PM IST

Top Indian paddler Manika Batra broke hearts after being knocked out in Round 3 of her Tokyo Olympics singles clash. She lost embarrassingly 0-4 to Austria's Sofia Polcanova.

However, there seems to be a controversy in her defeat and her Olympic stint, as she refused to take the assistance of national coach Soumyadeep Roy during the matches. At the same time, she called him the personal coach of her counterpart Sutirtha Mukherjee.

"Personal coach is a wrong statement. Sutirtha plays in Soumyadeep's academy, but he is the national coach. To say her coach was not allowed with her is wrong on Manika's part. She knew before leaving from India what is the access of the coaches. All the players and coaches know the extent of access each has," told Arun Kumar (TTFI General Secretary) to ANI.

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"Manika had applied for personal coach, we had recommended as well. When you know his access, to come to Tokyo and demand that her coach be there in place of Soumyadeep is wrong. To call him the personal coach of Sutirtha is wrong as he had taken national camp even before coming to Tokyo. The criteria are fixed, and I asked Soumyadeep to speak to manager MP Singh and report it as he is there. I strongly oppose this," he added.

Consequently, it has forced the Table Tennis Federation of India to think about it, while action could also be taken against her. Also, she had applied for the field-of-play access of her personal coach Sanmay Paranjape to chef-de-mission BP Baishya but was not granted since it was done at the last moment, while TTFI would also look into the matter hereon.

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Last Updated Jul 27, 2021, 5:43 PM IST