New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday (September 23) stayed the Table Tennis Federation of India’s mandate on compulsory attendance at the National Coaching Camp in order to be selected for any upcoming international event and asked the Centre to conduct an inquiry into Manika Batra’s complaint against the sports body.
Justice Rekha Palli further said that if warranted, the Union Sports Ministry may look into the affairs of the TTFI as well.
Justice Palli was hearing a plea by Batra who was left out of the Indian contingent for the upcoming Asian Table Tennis Championships and has alleged that the national coach Soumyadeep Roy ‘pressurized’ her to ‘throw away’ an Olympic qualifier match in favour of one of his personal trainees.
The judge said the rule mandating compulsory attendance at the national camp has been enforced ‘at a point when there was a complaint pending against the national coach’ and the same ‘does not inspire confidence’.