Shillong, June 15: Six of the seven South Asian Federation Countries have confirmed their participation in the 12th South Asian Federation Junior Table Tennis Championship slated to be held here from June 17-19, officials said today.
Except for Maldives, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka besides host India have confirmed their participation at the event, V K Bawa, Treasurer of the Table Tennis Federation of India, said.
Maldives has pulled out from the championship due to financial constraints within the country, the official said.
The SAF championpionship is mandatory for each of these SAF countries to get themselves the ticket for the 17th Asian Junior TT Championship slated to be held in China from July 11 - 17, Bawa said.
According to the TTFI official, the first and the second placed player in the SAF tournament in Shillong would represent their respective countries in the Asian championship in China.
A full contingent of 14 junior top paddlers from the country are camping in the city to aclimatise themselves at a national coaching camp organised by the TTFI here.
Indian junior top paddlers like Abhishek Yadav, Reeth Rishya and Lalren Puia besides others are eyeing gold at the event under the guidance of coaches Vijay Seshadri Sarthi and Sandeep Gupta.
Twelve international umpires will be refereeing at the event, the officials said.
