Don’t want players to be bullied, tell Manika Batra HC to TTFI

New Delhi, November 15 (PTI) The Delhi Supreme Court said on Monday it did not want any player to be unnecessarily harassed and asked the Indian Table Tennis Federation (TTFI) to give a clean speech to the country’s star paddler Manika Batra, who filed a complaint against a national sports organization.
Judge Rekha Palli, who previously directed the investigation against the sports organization of the Ministry of Sports, said that according to a report filed on the sealed cover, the player cannot be considered to be at fault in finding a personal coach.
The judge heard Batra’s appeal that TTFI had conducted its selection processes transparently and targeted certain individuals, such as him.
Batra, who was left out of India for the Asian Table Tennis Championships, has claimed that country coach Soumyadeep Roy “pressed” him to “throw away” the Olympic qualifier in favor of one of his trainees.
The last time a female paddler, ranked highest in India, had told the court that she was the target of a national federation for appealing in court, and now the international federation also treated her as an accused.
“I’m not happy with the union’s work. You’re trying to investigate a person for no reason. Is your union willing to take a stand? Is it willing to withdraw the reason given to him? I’ve seen an investigation report. , the court told TTFI’s lawyer.
“There is a finding in the middle of the report that it is not his fault (if he says) that I want a personal trainer. The report says very clearly that it would not be appropriate to blame the petitioner,” he pointed out.
– At the moment, the player should not suffer. The country can’t afford for the players to come on the field… I want you to give him a clean speech and say that no question is needed. (That there is no) question of his misconduct, the judge said while giving the assistant time to seek instructions.
The court also raised the TTFI at the hearing because it “exceeded” its order directing the center to investigate its affairs, saying it “would be very contemptuous.”
Sachin Datta, a senior lawyer who spoke on behalf of the petitioner, said from correspondence between the two sports organizations that on the same day the court ordered the investigation, TTFI tried to circumvent the instruction by writing to the International Table Tennis Association. launch its independent inquiry.
A senior lawyer called for a court-ordered investigation into the applicant’s allegations and the activities of the TTFI.
Sandeep Sethi, a senior lawyer representing TTFI, said there was no malpractice in the sports organization and argued that the same would emerge after examining a series of emails exchanged with an international body.
The court ordered that the correspondence filed by TTFI be recorded at the next hearing on 17 November.
In his petition, the gold medalist of the Commonwealth Olympic Games and the winner of the Khel Ratna Prize has sought to repeal the TTFI rules that oblige the national training camp to participate in international events.
It stated that Table Tennis is an Individual sport that requires special training with support staff, so the rule prohibiting personal coaching is arbitrary, irrational, absurd, and unrelated to excellence in an individual sport.
While the rule remained in place on Sept. 23, the court had said mandatory attendance at the national camp was forced “when a complaint was pending against the country coach,” and the same “does not inspire confidence.”
The petition alleges that the national team coach simultaneously ran a private table tennis academy in a clear conflict of interest and once “pressured the petitioner to throw the match away just to help one of his trainees at the private academy to get to the 2020 Olympics”.
“This incident occurred on 17 March 2021 in connection with the match of the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2021 organized by the ATTU (Asian Table Tennis Union) on 18 March 2021. The petitioner not only refused to comply with such an unethical, illegal and immoral request, but also immediately informed the adviser. To the TTFI on March 18, 2021, according to the petition.
“After the Olympics, Defendant No. 1 (TTFI) published the rules and regulations dated 4 September 2021 (received by the applicant on 27 September 2021) stating that participation in a national training camp is mandatory, otherwise he will not be selected for any future international event,” it said.
Earlier, the center had found that the union’s rule of mandatory participation in the national camp was in the teeth of the sports code and the merits were rejected.
The TTFI had defended the rule and found that such an assignment also existed in other sports, including weightlifting and judo.PTI ADS
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