Matter Between Manika Batra, Soumyadeep Roy To Be Heard On September 11: TTFI Secretary-General

The Table Tennis Federation of India’s (TTFI) Secretary-General Arun Banerjee on Thursday said the ongoing feud between paddler Manika Batra and coach Soumyadeep Roy will be taken up on September 11 and further course of action will be decided upon once both parties present their sides of the story. “We will call Manika and coach Soumyadeep Roy on September 11 and we will have a meeting with both of them and then we will decide what to do. We will assign a committee on this matter on the same day and they will find all aspects pertaining to this matter and after the committee investigation we will decide what to do further,” Banerjee told ANI.

“We hope the committee will submit their answer on the same day and we will take further steps on the basis of their investigation. Meanwhile, Soumyadeep will also be required to submit his part to us. Both of them claim that they have proof against each other. We will see on 11 what proof they have and on what base they are talking,” he added.

Earlier, Banerjee had revealed that star paddler Manika had informed the federation that national coach Soumyadeep had asked her to concede a game in March 2021.

“Yes, she has written in her reply to the show cause notice that Soumyadeep had asked her to concede a game and that saw her refusing to have him by her side during the Tokyo Olympics,” Banerjee had told ANI.

Asked if charges of fixing would be levelled against the national coach, Banerjee said: “You cannot call it match-fixing unless you have the complete version from both sides. We have to hear what Soumyadeep has to say to Manika’s allegations.”

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The differences between the two first came to light during the Tokyo Olympics when the Khel Ratna awardee refused to take guidance from Soumyadeep for her games.

TTFI secretary Banerjee had made it clear that Manika’s refusal to have national coach Soumyadeep by her side during matches at the Tokyo Olympics would be taken up for discussion after the showpiece event.