Tributes to Tara Murali
Mrs. Tara Murali, the trendsetting architect and feisty heritage conservationist left her mortal coils on 27th July night. The announcement in The Hindu mentioned among her interests, sports and particularly Table Tennis.
While her credentials and accomplishments as an architect, heritage conservationist and crusader for probity in public life are well known, her contributions to Table Tennis are not as well spoken about. I realize Tara would have frowned upon such tributes. But it is imperative that her role in making Tamil Nadu a force to reckon with in the field of Table Tennis is documented. It must be noted here that her children were not playing Table Tennis. She saw the potential in the State players, the need for reformation in the organisation, and plunged in.
In the early 1980s, affairs of the Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association were opaque. Tournaments were not conducted properly. Rankings and team selections were made arbitrarily with accusations of favouritism. Elections were a sham. Players were disillusioned and the main office-bearers were not responsive to complaints and suggestions.
Frustrated by this, a group of active senior players and enthusiastic non-players decided to establish the Tamilnadu Table Tennis Players Welfare Association to represent the interests of the players and to conduct regular tournaments. Players like R Ramachandran, V Kumar, N R Bharath, V K Mani, Ravi Venkatesh, Vidya Ramachandran, B Vijayalakshmi and non-players like N Ravi, V Balaji, Tara Murali, T T Srinivasaraghavan and V Seshadri were among the guiding forces. Regular meetings of the Association were held in the offices of Bharath & Associates, where Tara and Balaji were partners.
N. Srinivasan and Tara Murali with a team.
The weekend Dawn-to-Dusk Table Tennis tournaments that were regularly conducted by the TTPWA set new standards. A new event titled Non-medalists Singles was also introduced which gave a chance to the second rung players to win tournaments. Tara was present at the venue to guide the event. V. Balaji took over the responsibility of framing guidelines for drawing the ballot for the tournaments and the schedule of matches. These tournaments became wildly popular with their transparent format and punctuality.
Tara would persuade players to volunteer in the conduct of the tournaments. I was one such volunteer who was encouraged by Tara to take up umpiring. She took me under her wing and made me qualify in the umpiring examinations so that I could officiate in the State level competitions also. She also inducted me into the Executive Committee of TTPWA, when I was still in college.
Very soon, the existing inept State Association establishment was dethroned and a new set of office bearers led by the dynamic Secretary Mr. T N Lakshmanan (Lax) from Trichy took charge and started the revamp. The new Secretary reached out to TTPWA for support in streamlining the activities of the State Association.
TNTTA and TTPWA set about framing guidelines for conduct of tournaments, player ranking and team selection. Tara and Balaji were fastidious and ensured these were absolutely fair and transparent. State Ranking tournaments were conducted in the districts also, instead of only in Chennai. This improved the popularity of the game in the districts. Encouraged by the new administration, player participation and performance from the districts improved tremendously.
When Tamil Nadu hosted the National level junior competition INTAB in 1985, Tara and Lax decided to put an end to the menace of age-fraud. Players, with the connivance of unscrupulous State Associations, would fudge their age certificates so that they could play in the lower age group and win. Tamil Nadu sent a strong message that suspected players would be subject to medical examination and if found guilty, disqualified. This largely reduced the instances of age-fraud. Later the National Federation adopted this stand.
To increase exposure, State Ranked Players were sponsored by the State Association to participate in the National level tournaments as a contingent, with their travel and accommodation expenses taken care by the State Association. An official coach was also appointed to accompany the players.
Spurred by these measures, talented Sub-junior and Junior players like Deepa & Shoba from Trichy, Narain Gopinath, Ranjit Rajamani and Chetan Baboor started winning national level tournaments. Very soon Tamil Nadu Sub-juniors and Juniors became National Champions. Deepa and Chetan went on to represent India in competitions abroad and won medals.
Once the State Association started functioning efficiently, the role of TTPWA diminished.
Tara took over as the President of the Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association in 1987 and together with Mr. T.N. Lakshmanan as Secretary, did fantastic improvements in the structure and organisation of the member District Associations and conduct of tournaments. She ensured visibility and roped in much-needed corporate sponsorship for the sport. Tara did not consider her presidentship as a ceremonial post. She was a hands-on President, attended the main tournaments and interacted with the players regularly. It was a golden period for the State Association.
During those years, Tamil Nadu created many more stars in the National level like S. Raman, B. Bhuvaneswari, N. Arul Selvi, M.S. Mythili, Jacob Premkumar, N.R. Indu and T. Pradeepa, all thanks to the strong foundation laid by the dynamic team of Tara and Lax.
Tamil Nadu progressed to become a formidable team in the National level, especially in the women category. Now we have produced international stars like Sharath Kamal and Sathian. But it all started in the 1980s with a band of volunteers of impeccable integrity and a passion for Table Tennis joining together to reform the administration of the sport. Tara Murali played an important role in this endeavour.