Ridiculous, sad and funny: UP Public Service Commission invites tennis player for table-tennis coach's role

We don’t know whether to term the fact that the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) invited a tennis player for an interview for the post of a table tennis coach as funny, sad or ridiculous. Maybe it’s a combination of all three. It’s funny because, well it’s just funny. It’s sad, because the man appearing for the exam had been waiting since 2012 for his chance. And it’s ridiculous because it shows the knowledge levels of the UPPSC administration. [caption id=“attachment_2399262” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Getty Images[/caption] You can almost imagine someone saying: “Arre, table tennis aur tennis, ek hi cheez hai!” According to a report in Hindustan Times, Vijay Pathak — the man in question — was informed on the day of his final interview that he was ‘invited by mistake’. It was the 42-year-old’s last chance to get a government job. “Before the interview process started, I was asked about my discipline. When I said tennis, the authorities refused me permission to appear for the interview. I met the UPPSC chairman Anil Yadav who admitted to the mistake," Pathak is quoted as saying in the report. Apparently, the authorities told him he was free to file a case against them. This incident follows another odd one — again, at the UPPSC. Taekwondo coach Rizwan Ahmed, who has represented India at the world cup and has won national-level gold medals, was not issued a call letter because he did not meet the basic norm of playing at university level. Because of course, in the world of the UPPSC, university-level participation is higher than representing the country, right? Pathak was told in his call letter that his papers were thoroughly checked. Maybe the administrators were learning to differentiate between ping-pong and beer-pong when this checking was taking place. Read the full Hindustan Times report here.