Manika Batra refuses national coach's help during first round match at Tokyo Olympics
Tokyo: India's table tennis star Manika Batra on Saturday refused to take advice of national coach Soumyadeep Roy during her first round match at the Tokyo Olympics after her personal coach was not granted on-court access.
World number 62 Manika won the match against 94th-ranked Tin-Tin Ho of Britain 4-0 but no one was sitting in the coach's corner and that attracted a lot of attention on social media.
Manika's personal coach Sanmay Paranjape was controversially cleared to travel with her to Tokyo but is not allowed to stay at the Games Village with the national team. He is staying in a hotel and is allowed access only for training sessions.
The 26-year-old had wanted Paranajpe's accreditation to be upgraded so that he could be court-side during her matches but team leader M P Singh, who is also a TTFI advisor and is in Tokyo, said Manika's request for field-of-play access to her coach was denied by the organisers.
"After her request for on court access for her personal coach was denied, she refused to be coached by our national coach. I had to intervene in the matter but she also refused me to take Roy's advice during the match," Singh told PTI.
However, Roy was seen court-side when Sharath Kamal and Manika played their round of 16 match in mixed doubles. Roy is a member of the gold winning men's team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and has been a longtime teammate to India's table tennis great Sharath.
Manika was not available for comment.
With the Games happening in COVID-times, there were more restrictions on the number of support staff allowed with the team than usual. Paranjape, who is based in Pune, was cleared to travel to Tokyo but G Sathiyan's coach S Raman, who is an Olympian, was not.
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Attack on Saif worrisome: NCP(SP) leader Supriya Sule
Mumbai (PTI): NCP (SP) Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule on Thursday expressed concern over the attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan by an intruder at his home in Mumbai and termed the incident as "worrisome".
Sule, who is a friend of Saif Ali Khan's wife Kareena Kapoor Khan's family, said the actor was hospitalised and was safe. The incident took place at around 2.30 am on Thursday at Saif Ali Kan's house in Mumbai's Bandra area, according to police. The actor, who was injured after the intruder attacked him with a knife, was hospitalised and required a medical procedure.
Sule spoke to Saif Ali Khan's sister-in-law Karisma Kapoor over phone in the presence of mediapersons at Baramati in Pune but declined to share details of the conversation. Saif Ali Khan was in hospital while Kareena had returned home, Sule was apparently told by Karisma Kapoor.
The NCP (SP) leader also enquired with Karisma Kapoor on how the intruder got inside Khan's house. "Saif is safe and in hospital. Wait for the official statement from the family and the police," Sule told reporters. The parliamentarian is a friend of Kareena Kapoor Khan's aunt Reema Jain, the daughter of legendary filmmaker and actor late Raj Kapoor.
"There was an attempted burglary in Saif Ali Khan and (his wife and actor) Kareena Kapoor Khan's residence last night. Saif had an injury on his arm for which he is in hospital, undergoing a procedure. The rest of the family is doing fine," Kareena Kapoor's team said in a statement. "We request the media and fans to be patient and not speculate any further as the police is already doing their due investigations. Thank you all for your concern," the statement said.
