Rules are rules: Sharath on Manika’s omission

Iconic paddler Sharath Kamal said the Table Tennis Federation of India’s selection policy could be debated and reviewed going forward, but not after the national team for the Asian Games has been announced.

He was responding to a question on the omission of Manika Batra from the Indian women’s squad after she failed to meet the stipulated selection criteria.

“The new selection policy was introduced in 2023. Even before that, it was more or less the same, with players ranked inside the world’s top 50 earning direct entry into the team. Rules are rules. We can discuss whether the selection policy is right or wrong and make changes for the future, but we cannot apply those arguments retrospectively,” Sharath, two-time Asian Games medallist, told The Hindu on the sidelines of the second State-ranking tournament, here on Sunday.

Asked whether Manika, ranked 51 in the world, could still be accommodated in the team considering her stature and past achievements on the international stage, Sharath said: “If Manika is left out, yes, we will be missing an important player. But if we pick her despite the criteria, we would be doing an injustice to a player like Syndrela Das, the 16-year-old, who reached the final at the National championships and is currently ranked No. 2 on the domestic circuit’’.