According to the constitution, the outgoing general secretary and any member of the World or Asian table tennis governing bodies automatically qualify as councillors. However, vice-president Ishtiaque Ahmed, who is an executive committee member of the Asian Table Tennis Union, and general secretary Rafiqul Islam Tipu were not among the 67-member list published by the National Sports Council.

"We are surprised that our names were not on the list," commented Ishtiaque yesterday. "The federation will protest against this violation," he added.

A hearing will be held on January 25.

The metropolis table tennis clubs were also frustrated as only five out of 25 regular participating teams were missing from the list.

The 67-member list was originally prepared by BTTF president Solaiman Chowdhury, who ignored a list readied by a three-member committee appointed by the executive committee.

According to the constitution, districts or clubs to have participated in at least two national championships or two metropolis leagues in the last four years qualify to have a councillor. However, the president, without consulting the executive committee or holding an AGM, reduced the period to one year from two years.

It was also surprising to see the name of Quamrunnahar Dana, a renowned badminton player, in the list that did not include two former national TT champions -- the Guinness World Record holder Zobera Rahman Linu and Munira Morshed Khan Helen -- or any representative from Abahani, one of the top clubs of the country.

The BTTF president, however, was not available for comments.