KARACHI: The fight for supremacy in the Jubilee Insurance 54th National Table Tennis Championships is set to begin at the Majeed Khan gymnasium of Islamia Club on Saturday with top men and women players across the country vying for honours.

Seven gold medals will be up for grabs in the premier event of the game which concludes on Jan 11. The events includes men and women team events, men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles.

The details of the annual event were announced by the top officials of the Karachi Table Tennis Association (KTTA) at a press conference held at Karachi Club Annexe on Friday.

Wapda will defend men and women team event titles. The men’s singles title has fallen vacant following the retirement of title holder Saleem Abbas while Ayesha Iqbal will defend her women’s singles title.

Outlining salient features, the KTTA secretary Tauqeer Muhajir said this will be the 16th time the city will play host to the annual event since its inception in 1954.

It is pertinent to mention that last time Karachi played host to the Golden Jubilee event of the game in 2013.

According to organisers, Karachi had produced 14 national champions (men’s) and 12 (women’s). Farjad Saif enjoyed an enviable record of winning the men’s singles crown for a record 13 times.

The KTTA official thanked commissioner Karachi for extending unconditional support to KTTA in staging the event.

He said plans are afoot to revive the 70s and 80s era of the game when the city had served as one of the biggest nurseries in the country.

The KTTA chairman Javed Hayat also spoke on the occasion.

Also present on the occasion, were STTA president Azher Khursheed, STTA secretary Saleem Ahmed, Arif Khan, Arif Nakhuda, Rubina Arif and Mohammad Shabih Siddiqui.

The participating units are Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir, Army, Chromatex, HEC, National Highway Authority (NHA), Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited (OGDCL), Railways and Wapda.

Meanwhile, an organising committee headed by Commissioner Karachi Ejaz Ahmed Khan has been formed. It includes Tauqeer Muhajir, Azher Khursheed, Mohammad Tahir Lone, Javed Hayat, Arif Khan, Munsarim Saif, Sohal Hayat, Arif Nakhuda, Saleem Ahmed, Mohammad Nakhuda, Abdul Raheem, Ubaid Hadi Khan, Shakir Khanani and Khawaja Kashif.

The Jury of Appeals comprised Khawaja Hasan Wadood (chairman), Arif Nakhuda and Arif Khan.

Saturday’s fixtures:

Men’s team event, women’s team event at 10am; formal opening at 4pm.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2018