Now, Table Tennis to Reach Even 'Smallest' of UP Districts

Buoyed by the success of at least four of its paddlers, including Lucknow's Divyansh Srivastava, last season, Uttar Pradesh Table Tennis Association has decided to spread its wings as it plans to take up a series of activities in almost all districts of the state from the new season beginning July.

- HT Correspondent

LUCKNOW:

Besides Divyansh, who won a gold, a silver and three bronzes in national and international events, Sarth Mishra (Ghaziabad), Pehal Gupta (Agra) and Avani Tripathi (Ghaziabad) also brought laurels to the state.

A platform for around 500 paddlers and its units in 45 districts, UPTTA wants to conduct events in even the smallest of districts where spotting a talent will be extremely difficult.

"This time, we are trying to cover almost all the districts. We have asked the Uttar Pradesh Sports Directorate to coordinate with us and allocate events. We will conduct them even in small districts to promote the game and spot talents," UPTTA director Arun Banerjee said on Monday. Banerjee added: "This season onwards, we will also conduct events for para-athletes and give them cash awards."

"We are trying to organise events for para table tennis players. Last year, we held para-events in Lucknow. We are already felicitating our top players annually, and from this year we will give cash awards to para paddlers," he added.