CHENNAI : Christmas came early for a bunch of teenage table tennis players from Tamil Nadu. At the recent 11Sports 80th cadet & sub-junior national & inter-state championships, boys and girls from the state won eight medals. Other than competition from other teams, the Tamil Nadu players also had to contend with low temperatures in Chandigarh.
D Vishwa and the sub-junior boys team won gold medals. There were four silver and two bronze medals as well. The Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association (TNTTA) has announced a cash reward of `25,000 only for the gold-winning team. On rewarding the other medal winners, the association will decide later.
“There has been a lot of improvement in the game of our young players. They get inspired by the senior players’ achievements. I hope the prize money will encourage them to win medals in the future,” said the TNTTA secretary AV Vidyasagar. “The low temperature was unusual for the youngsters and they did well to quickly adjust to it.”
Not accustomed to the north Indian winter, the Tamil Nadu paddlers had a tough time when the temperature dropped to single digits. So adjusting to the conditions was crucial. “The temperature was varying from 4-6 degrees, so we decided to devote more time for practice sessions. Other teams came to the stadium at 6.30am on match days, but we were present there by 5 to ensure the players got extra hours,” said coach Vijay Babu.
“Ahead of the tournament, the kids attended a nine-day camp, which was conducted by the state association. Other than long and rigorous practice sessions, we had done a lot of homework. We listed the tough teams that we would face and strategised for each and every game before leaving for Chandigarh,” he added.
Medal winners: Gold: D Vishwa (sub-jr boys); Vishwa/Preyesh/Ganesh Varun/Prakash Roopan Santosh (sub-jr boys team). Silver: D Vishwa/Suresh Raj Preyesh (sub-jr boys doubles); Kavyasree Bhaskar (sub-jr girls); Shreya/Hrithika Selvakumar/Sathvika Venkatchalapathi Srinivasan/Kavyasree (sub-jr girls team); Balamurugan Muthu Rajasekaran/Abhinandh/Tejasram Venkatraman/Umesh Kumar (cadet boys team). Bronze: Shreya Shiva Kumar/Kavyasree Bhaskar (sub-jr girls doubles); PB Abhinandh (cadet boys).