India's Rio-bound paddlers Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh likely to face-off in domestic event

New Delhi: Rio-bound Indian paddlers Achanta Sharath Kamal and Soumyajit Ghosh are expected to play in the singles event of the Rs 4.25 lakh AAI 46th All India Inter-Institutional Championships starting from Sunday.

Ghosh and Sharath have not been named as a part of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) for the team event but they would look to sharpen their skills in the singles before heading to Rio de Janeiro next month.

World No. 61 Ghosh and World No. 69 Sharath have been preparing for the Rio Games in Sweden and Germany respectively and had missed the North Zone championships at Chandigarh last month.

The duo will be connoisseur’s delight as both of them are India’s entries to the Rio Olympics this year and are likely to face-off in singles at some stage of the main draw in the tournament.

The presence of these two will pep up reigning champions PSPB’s title-winning chances even better. Anthony Amalraj, G Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty will be among others trying to defend the title for the PSPB.

In the the women’s arena, PSPB will be spearheaded by the two Rio-bound players, Manika Batra and Mouma Das along with Madhurika Patkar, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe and K Shamini. An individual win here will serve as an appetizer for the two players prior to the Rio Olympics.

A total of 18 teams are competing in men’s section and have been divided into six groups of three each while the 11 teams in women’s category are bunched in three, led by PSPB in group A having three teams.

The opening matches are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. with the women’s team events.