Manika Batra made a serious allegation against Soumyadeep Roy, saying that the national coach asked her to concede an Olympic qualifier match against one of his students.
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India’s table tennis star Manika Batra has made a serious allegation against national coach Soumyadeep Roy, claiming that he asked her to throw a match during the Tokyo Olympic qualifiers in March. The star paddler refused to take any form of guidance from Roy during her women’s singles event in the recently concluded Olympics. At that time, Manika said that it was because she wanted her own personal coach to be there. However, now in her response to the Table Tennis Federation of India’s show-cause notice, she has alleged that it is because Roy asked her to concede the match against his personal ward Sutirtha Mukherjee in Doha.
“Besides the need to avoid disturbance due to his last minute intervention, there was an additional and much more serious reason behind my preference to play without the national coach,” Manika alleged in her response to TTFI secretary Arun Banerjee.
“The national coach had pressurised me during the qualification tournament in Doha in March 2021 to concede my match to his student to enable her to qualify for Olympics – in short- to indulge in match-fixing,” she said.
Meanwhile, Roy hasn’t responded to the allegations so far and has been told by TTFI to present his side of the story.
“The allegations are against Roy. Let him respond and then we will decide future course of action,” said TTFI secretary general Arun Kumar Banerjee when asked about Manika’s response to the showcause notice.
Manika explained the reasons that led to the world No. 56 playing her singles matches alone in the Tokyo Olympics 2020, after her personal coach Sanmay Paranjape was deprived of competition area access in Tokyo.
“I have evidence of this incident and I am ready to present it to the competent authorities at the appropriate time. For asking me to concede the match, the national coach personally met me in my hotel room and talked to me for nearly 20 minutes,” said Manika.
“He tried to promote his own student using unethical means under the pretext of national interest. He was accompanied by his student who trains in the private academy not only run by, but also named after him. 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. But his intimidation and pressure had its effect on my mental frame and consequently my performance,” she added.
“During the Olympics, I wanted to keep away from the demoralising effect of such a coach. Because, as a player representing India, it was my duty to serve my country in the best possible way,” stated Manika.
Both Manika and Sutirtha played well in Tokyo. Manika created history by reaching the third round while Sutirtha did well to reach the second round. TTFI had called Manika’s refusal to take Roy’s advice as an act of indiscipline and showcaused her.
“I strongly deny the charge therein that I brought disrepute to TTFI, Government of India and the country and undermined the appointment of the national coach by playing my singles matches in the Tokyo Olympics without the presence of the national coach in the field of play,” stated Manika.
“In fact and on the contrary, I have served my country and TTFI in the best possible way by playing my matches alone,” she added.
Manika also questioned TTFI for not taking action against Roy.
“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.”
“Unfortunately, when I raised the issue of the match fixing pressure tactics by the national coach again in my e-mail dated 14’th August 2021, TTFI refuted this issue outright without even a preliminary, impartial and transparent inquiry. Finally, to reiterate and summarise, I have done nothing wrong in playing my matches alone,” she asserted.
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