CHENNAI : Sunday was one to remember for S Preyesh of RTTHPC who clinched both men’s and U-19 titles when he beat Sushmit Sriram and Raghuram, respectively in the Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association (TNTA)-Chennai Lions 2nd state ranking tournament held at ICF indoor stadium.
Preyesh played with great determination as he battled with mild jaundice. In the first state ranking tournament held a week back, he was diagnosed with severe jaundice mid-way and could not perform to his potential. “It feels good to win the double title (men’s and Under-19) in the TNTA second state ranking tournament, because despite having a mild positive jaundice I played every match earnestly and put my best effort,” Preyesh told this daily.
“I lost in the men’s pre-quarter finals and in the semifinals in U-19 category at the first state ranking tournament held a week back due to jaundice. So this win (2nd state ranking) is all the more satisfying as I played despite still being slightly weak due to all the medications,” he added.
The 17-year-old, who is pursuing class 12 via National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in order to get time to play table tennis, had a fruitful nationals at the 84th inter-state meet where he bagged four medals. “I won four medals in the national championship. U-19 doubles gold, U-19 singles bronze, U-17 doubles silver, U-17 singles silver. I also played in the WTT Youth Contender in Italy, Hungary and came upto the U-19 quarterfinals. So far this year it has been good and I want to improve my medals tally and also my game in the coming season,” said Preyesh.
He is guided by former India player S Raman and believes that it has helped him beat strong opponents. “My coaches are Raman sir, Bhuvneshwari ma’am and Bappaditya. Raman sir keeps telling me to improve my footwork. So footwork and backhand are the major areas that I am working on.
Their guidance helped me beat a tough player like S Karthikeyan of CDTTA in the men’s 2nd state ranking tournament. So I aim to improve a bit in every tournament and work towards my aim which is to bag a WTT title,” he said. His ranking at the moment is India No 5 in U-19 Youth singles and World No 7 in U-17 boys.The youngster who draws inspiration from G Sathiyan and Ma Long will next be seen in action in the zonals which is to be held in August at Mysuru.