Jharkhand State Table Tennis Association (JSTTA) has taken the first step to plan out the budgeting and other requirements for the upcoming national, state and district level tournaments. The information was highlighted during the Annual Executive General Body members election for 2013-17 session on Sunday.
“As of now, we are preparing our students for Cadet and Sub Junior National meet at Jaipur to be held this November,” said JSTTA General Secretary Jai Kumar Sinha. Adding further about national participating meets related to Jharkhand, Sinha said, “Our candidates are also being groomed for Youth and Junior National scheduled at Guwahati, Senior Nationals at Patna and Veteran Nationals at Dharamshala.”
A budget of Rs 4, 33,200 has been fixed for these four tournaments. Apart from this, the association has also been allotted funds for organizing the next Thakur Biswanath Shahdeo Tournaments at the JSTTA affiliated districts and then for the state level. There are about 18 districts units affiliated to JSTTA namely Ranchi, Bokaro, East Singhbhum, West Singbhum, Daltonganj, Deoghar, Gumla, Garhwa, Godda, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Jamtara, lohardaga, Sahebganj, latehar, Khunti, Pakur and Dhanbad.
A member of this association informed that District Sports Officer Dalsingar Ram has received the amount and association’s authority over this money is yet to be taken. Interestingly, the association affiliated to Jharkhand Olympic Association and Indian Olympic Association is working efficiently without any financial aid from the state government and rare to get sponsorships from private organizations.
At present, the association like other state sports associations is training its best talents for the 35th National Games 2014 at Kerala in the month of February. JSTTA is also set to host the Inter-District and Jharkhand State TT Championships in Dhanbad this October. However, district members here expressed their worry over rare sponsorships available at their areas. “Though performance of our players is outstanding but the unavailability of sponsorships at certain times makes our job difficult as an association member,” said a senior member.