Amalraj overcomes Sharath's challenge to win the South Zone National Ranking at Dharwad

A Amalraj wins the Men's singles finals at the South Zone National Ranking Table Tennis tournament. 

He beat world no. 47, A Sharath Kamal 4-3 in the finals.

Earlier this year, Amalraj was awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award.

Table Tennis Player of the Year 2011 (India) Anthony Amalraj

A Amalraj stands clear as the player of the year 2011 in Indian Table Tennis.

After a quarter final loss in the first zonals, he swept almost everything at stake, even beating the formidable Sharath Kamal at the Inter Institutionals. He beat his closest rivals with ease and lost very few games while doing so.

His profile on his agency's Web site:
www.ttproagency.com

- Style of Playing: Right Handed, All Round Style of Playing

- Hobbies: Movies, Music

- Favorite Music Band: World Music

- Favorite Food: Chicken Briyani

- Favorite City/Country: USA

TABLE TENNIS EQUIPMENT:

- Blade: TIBHAR H39

- Forehand Rubber: BUTTERFLY Tenergy 05 2.1

- Backhand Rubber: BUTTERFLY Tenergy 64 2.1

BEST RESULTS:

- Commonwealth Games Bronze Medal

Young blood hunts for the old

The new generation was seen asserting its progress at the South Zone National Ranking Table Tennis tournament at Rajahmundry.

Soumyajit Ghosh beat G Sathiyan to reach the finals. He meets Harmeet Desai, who overcame southpaw Sanil Shetty's challenge.

It is interesting to note that three of the four semi-finalists are just 18 and even Sanil has just recently finished his Youth participation. This augurs well for Indian Table Tennis. Of course, the big India stars, Sharath Kamal and A Amalraj did not participate, but it at least means that these youngsters are right on the heels of the legends of Indian TT.

India placed in the Second Division of the World Team Championships

The Indian team consisting of A Sharath Kamal, Soumyadeep Roy, Subhajit Saha, A Amalraj, and Sourav Chakraborty, has been placed in the second division of the World Team Table Tennis Championships to be held at Moscow, Russia from 23-30 May.

Among the ladies, India will be represented by Mouma Das, Poulomi Ghatak, K Shamini, Madhurika Patkar, and Divya Deshpande.

China, Korea Republic, and Germany top the seedings list in the men's section while China, Singapore, and Korea Republic head the women's list.

Meanwhile, China has two new faces in its squad - Zhang Jike and Xu Xin, who have done exceptionally well in the last couple of years and also proved their merit by qualifying from the very tough selection process. Interestingly, Ma Lin does not find a place in the squad.