NEW DELHI: With the World Qualification Event for table tennis coming up in January in Portugal, India’s paddlers are gearing up for some quality sparring in the months of December and January.
India’s top-ranked paddler G Sathiyan had requested the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) to approach their South Korean counterparts for a 10-day training stint. TTFI took the initiative and after talks between both camps, South Korea finally confirmed this development late on Monday.
They sent a letter of acknowledgement to both the paddler as well as the Indian body. The dates are from December 17 to 27.
The important aspect of this trip is the fact that Sathiyan will be training along with the South Korean national team. Earlier, the likes of Korea and Japan would not invite other countries to be a part of the national camp and this move shows how highly Indian paddlers are being regarded.
“TTFI deserves credit for taking up my request and ensuring it happens on time. They have a couple of players in the top-10 while almost all players are in the top-20. The speed at which their paddlers play will be a great learning experience for me and I’m hoping to make the most of the opportunity. The Korean federation has showed interest in India and in future, more and more can choose to train there and it will be great for the sport,” Sathiyan said.
The Arjuna awardee will be travelling alone for the trip. Personal coach S Raman will be in constant touch with him and will analyse training videos and offer suggestions.
That is not all as the entire team — both men and women — will be travelling to Dusseldorf in Germany for an official camp prior to the qualifiers. The camp has been agreed in principle and pending final approval. Seasoned A Sharath Kamal, who has been playing in Germany for a long time, spoke to the authorities there and the venue was finalised.
“We wanted a proper camp for the players and Germany not only has high-quality centres but travelling to Portugal will also be easy for the players from there. We will be sending two coaches as well and we are hopeful of a good preparation prior to the Olympic qualifiers,” TTFI secretary MP Singh said.
Joint training in Chennai
After the Canada Open in the first week of December, there is a gap in the calendar and India’s male paddlers have decided to utilise this free time by training in Chennai as a unit. Three paddlers are from the city — Sathiyan, Sharath, Anthony Amalraj. Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar will fly down for the same.
The players will train at Nehru Stadium because of the size of the venue and it will start from December 20. Sathiyan will join the rest at a later date after the completion of his Korea stint.
“It will be good for the boys to train together. The more we practice, the better chance we have for team events,” Sharath added.