Quality of balls under the scanner at the National table tennis championship

The quality of balls being used at the 87th senior inter-State and National table tennis championship, sponsored by Ultimate Table Tennis, has come under scrutiny, with several paddlers and coaches voicing concerns.

The tournament is using Stag Global balls, manufactured by an Indian company. While these are ITTF-approved, they are not commonly used in World Table Tennis (WTT) events or major international competitions, nor are they consistently used across top domestic tournaments.

“These balls are lighter and get soft very early. Since these balls are not used in WTT events or at World Cups and Championships, we hardly play with them,” Manav Thakkar, World No. 33 and the highest-ranked player in the men’s draw, told The Hindu on Wednesday.

“Had we known well in advance, we could have trained with these balls to adapt. It would be better if there were consistency in the balls used throughout the domestic season.”

The inconsistency has been evident across the circuit. While four of the five national ranking tournaments this season used Stag balls, another opted for Stiga. The inter-institutional tournament — the second-most prestigious senior domestic event — featured DHS balls, which are also used in international competitions.

Competition manager N. Ganesan, however, defended the choice. “We have been using only ITTF-approved balls, and it’s the same case for the National Championship,” he said.

Former international and Arjuna awardee Soumyadeep Roy echoed the concerns, noting that the balls tend to “get soft too soon and hardly impart spin.” Sandeep Ghosh, father-cum-coach of Swastika Ghosh, had also written to the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) last month, urging standardisation in line with WTT events.

A TTFI official, requesting anonymity, said: “The federation has to look after the interests of all players. These balls are manufactured by the same global company that produces several top international brands, including Stag.”

Top results: Mixed doubles: round-of-64: P. Yeshwanth & Trupti Purohit (Kar) w/o Payas Jain & Syndrela Das (PSPB); Rishabh Mayank & Sneha Bhowmick (Har) bt Harkunwar Singh & Kaashvi Gupta 11,6 11-9, 11-8; Chitrax Bhatt & Frenaz Chipia (Guj) bt Siddhesh Pande & Shriya Anand (TN) 11-8, 11-2, 11-7; Agniv Gohain & Bhavna Kashyap (Asm) bt Nithin V. & M. Kajanethra (Pon) 11-4, 11-7, 11-5; B. Rajasekaran Muthu & Senenadeepti Selvakumar (TN) bt Harsh Srivastava & Sunidhi Dewan (Raj) 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6.