Table tennis player Diya Chitale included in list of CWG squad, Delhi HC told

New Delhi: Young Table Tennis player Diya Chitale has been included in the list of four selected players who will represent the country in the upcoming Commonwealth Games, the Delhi High Court was informed on Friday. The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), which is run by the court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), told Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri about the development after which the counsel representing Chitale sought to withdraw the petition which was filed over her exclusion from the Games squad. The court, which disposed of Chitale’s plea, listed for 13 June two other petitions filed by Table Tennis players Swastika Ghosh and Manush Shah challenging their exclusion from the list of selected players. Regarding Shah, the counsel for TTFI submitted that he is already on the stand-by list of players. As the TTFI counsel said he has not been served with the copy of the plea filed by Ghosh, the court asked the player’s lawyer to serve him with the petition. He also said the list of selected players has already been finalised and forwarded to CWG through IOA. To this, the court asked the federation’s counsel to come back with instructions on what is the position if the list has already been submitted. Chitale had approached the high court alleging that she was being overlooked for the national Table Tennis squad that will take part in the upcoming Commonwealth Games with the CoA headed by a former decathlete allegedly selecting a player who does not meet the eligibility criteria. Swastika Ghosh’s father and coach Sandeep Ghosh had earlier said that she was number four as per the selection criteria and should be in the team. Ghosh, 19, was named as a standby with the revised squad comprising Manika Batra, Diya Chitale, Reeth Rishya, and Sreeja Akula. The men’s squad includes veteran Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, and Sanil Shetty with Manush Shah on standby.