TT player Diya Chitale included in CWG 2022 squad, says CoA

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) running the suspended Table Tennis Federation of India on Tuesday said it has included Diya Chitale in the squad for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 and finalised the selection list, putting all the controversies to rest related to the team selection in a detailed minutes of meeting.

TT player Diya Chitale included in CWG 2022 squad, says CoA
Diya Chitale. Source: IANS

New Delhi, June 7 (IANS) The Committee of Administrators (CoA) running the suspended Table Tennis Federation of India on Tuesday said it has included Diya Chitale in the squad for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 and finalised the selection list, putting all the controversies to rest related to the team selection in a detailed minutes of meeting.

Diya Chitale, who had approached the Delhi High Court over her exclusion from the women's CWG squad, has been included in the side for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, the CoA said.

The COA has clarified that the decision reported in the media was only the recommendation of the selection committee, not the final decision of the COA.

The team was supposed to get final clearance from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) but the Sports Ministry said that it is the responsibility of CoA which is running the federation to select the team. After that the selection committee, chaired by CoA member S D Mudgil, met again on Monday and finalised the team.

The COA has expressed concerns with regard to limitation of the existing and prevailing criteria, which doesn't take into consideration the format of the CWG, Asian Games, etc., which requires the inclusion of doubles combination.

In the decision, the COA has put paddler Diya Chitale in the women's double with Manika Batra, which was earlier reported to be with Archana Kamath.

It also recorded that India may have to evolve a formal policy regarding training and selection of doubles and mixed doubles pairs.

Squads:

Men: Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty, Manush Shah (standby).

Women: Manika Batra, Diya Chitale, Reeth Rishya, Sreeja Akula, Swastika Ghosh (standby).