Bhubaneswar: Kalinga Stadium, the iconic sports facility in Odisha’s capital city, staged yet another international sports event successfully as the five-day ITTF-ATTU Asian Table Tennis Team Championships concluded on Wednesday.
Having hosted multiple FIH World Cups (senior and junior), the FIH Pro League, Asian Athletics Championships, World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meet, SAFF Championship, FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and several other events over the last decade, it was the turn of table tennis.
Over 500 players and officials from 22 countries assembled in Bhubaneswar for the Asian Team TT championship, which Odisha was hosting for the first time.
The Chinese juggernaut crushed all opponents to clinch a double crown. The men’s team swept aside Hong Kong 3-0 in the final, while the women blanked Japan 3-0 in the title-decider.
The Indian teams disappointed in front of their home crowd, as the men finished sixth and women eighth.
Sheikha Hayat Al Khalifa, acting regional vice-president of the Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU), was praised the local organisers for putting up a great show.
“Today, we enjoyed a beautiful closing ceremony held under the patronage and in the presence of the Governor… On behalf of the president of ATTU, Khalil Al-Mohannadi, I would like to thank everyone in Odisha, the local organising committee, and everyone at the Indian Table Tennis Association for their hard work,” Sheikha Hayat said.
Odisha Governor Dr Hari Babu Kambhampati graced the closing ceremony, and presented the winners’ trophy to China.
State Sports minister Suryabanshi Suraj was also present.