CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association was one of the first sports bodies in the state to organise tournaments for players as soon as the government gave a nod for sporting activities post-pandemic. And making most of this opportunity was 15-year-old S Preyesh, touted to be India’s best sub-junior player, who bagged a grand double by winning both the men and Under-19 titles at the first TNTTA state ranking table tennis tournament held earlier this month. Preyesh, who trains at Raman Table Tennis High Performance Center, defeated his clubmate Navaneeth Kutty in both finals.
“Winning two gold medals at the state ranking meet was good as I played the tournament without much preparation. I could not train that much since I came back two days before the tournament from Tunisia where I took part in the WTT event. I played really well and it was good to start the season on a winning note,’’ said Preyesh.
The class 10 student of Chennai Public School has been regularly playing in events against higher-ranked players and in higher age brackets. “My coach S Raman sir helped me a lot during the state ranking tournament. His inputs and suggestions always helped me have an edge over my opponent. In the men’s final, he told me to play without fear and stick to basics, and it worked. But the toughest match was the semi-final against Nitin Thiruvengadam. I had to really work hard to get the better of my opponent,’’
recalled Preyesh.
The youngster is keen to make a mark on the world stage and is leaving no opportunity to travel and play abroad. He has been a regular at the WTT events and has won a couple of titles. “I regularly take part in the WTT events. In the WTT Youth contender in Tunisia, I won the U-15 gold and was a semifinalist in the U-17. In the next WTT Youth contender at Lisbon, Portugal in the U-19 doubles, I bagged the bronze medal for being a semi-finalist along with Payas Jain from Delhi. In the Muscat WTT Youth contender event last week, I lost in the pre-quarters in U-15 and U17. In the WTT Tunisia, I played against Ebrahim Gubran from Yemen, he has been the toughest opponent so far,’’ said Preyesh adding, “Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu helps me in all my pro-tours.’’
Preyesh had learnt the nuances of the game from the late V Chandrasekar and is now coached by Raman. G Sathiyan also trains under Raman and thus Preyesh gets an opportunity to interact and train with the ace Indian paddler. “From Chadra sir, I learnt the basics. Raman sir helped me learn more advanced strokes and skills-sets. Raman TTHPC has the top class equipment to train. It is good to train with a player of Sathiyan’s calibre and great to play with him. From Sathiyan, I learnt how to be grounded and improve my skill-sets in order to go higher up in the ladder,’’ he said.
The next few months are packed with tournaments for Preyesh. Next week, he will be seen in the nationals to be held in Punjab in the Under-17 segment. Then, he will be playing in the WTT Youth contender at the Slovak Republic and then in Hungary. Later, in the first week of December, he will be participating in the WTT world table tennis tournament championship in Portugal.
Future games
Next week, he will be seen in the nationals to be held in Punjab in the Under-17 segment. He will be playing in the WTT Youth contender at the Slovak Republic and then in Hungary. In the first week of December, he will be participating in the WTT world in Portugal