NEW DELHI: Star player Manika Batra on Sunday dismissed TTFI’s “false” claim that she did not report the matter to the national federation when national coach Soumyadeep Roy allegedly asked her to throw a match during the Olympic qualifier in March.
Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) secretary Arun Banerjee has questioned the timing of Manika’s allegations against Roy.
However, the leading India player, in her response to federation’s showcause notice over not taking Roy’s help during the recently held Tokyo Olympics, stated that the national coach asked her to fix a match in Doha and she had “promptly” reported the matter to TTFI which did not take any action. It was also the reason she could not take Roy’s help in Tokyo.
She reiterated the same to PTI on Sunday: “I just wish to say it’s clearly stated in my written reply to the notice and letter to TTFI that I had reported about the matter to them long back (in March) .
“I don’t know why the false claim is made now of me not reporting it for five months. My reply to the notice clearly claims my prompt reporting of it.”
TTFI has asked Roy to present his side of the story in a written reply.
“From my side, I did not promise to oblige him and promptly reported this matter to a TTFI official. I decided not to obey the unethical command of the national coach.
“I have been falsely charged with ”bringing disrepute to the country by the sight of an empty chair of the coach”.
“But the truth is that the ”empty chair” was the result of the national coach’s pressure tactics for match fixing and TTFI’s inaction to act on my prompt reporting of that incident and not the result of my so called indiscipline,” Manika had stated in her response to the notice.
She is also unlikely to attend the national camp underway in Sonepat ahead of the Asian Championships later this month. TTFI has made it clear that any player missing the camp will not be considered for national selection.
–PTI

Press Trust of India