CHENNAI: L'appetito viene dal mangiare. Massimo Costantini, Italy's 65-year-old table tennis coach, loves reminding his players of this particular proverb from his native country. Loosely translated, it means the appetite comes from eating. Over a couple of surreal days in Jakarta in 2018, he reminded this to his players several times. In return, India won two medals in the sport (till 2018, they had one).
With the Paris Olympics zooming into view, Costantini, who left the country soon after the high of Jakarta, is likely to return as coach of the national team. As it stands, three people have applied for the post but it's understood that the others may not be in contention right now.
"Talks are going on, it's not yet confirmed," paddler A Sharath Kamal told this daily. "Would be good to have Max (on board). From the next day itself, we can start with a goal in mind." The other candidates are a Spaniard (Alfredo Beamus) and the current coach of the Czech national team. "With the other coaches, I'm not sure they are willing to join at this point. Even if they join now, it will take a while for us to understand them and them to understand us," Sharath, who will be featuring in his fifth Games, explained.
"It is good news for the team," Sathiyan, another of the players who returned with a medal from the 2018 Asian Games, said. "We won a lot of medals under him and hope to win that elusive Olympic medal too."
While Olympic preparation are fluid for the time being, there will be several training camps. There is also a plan in the works about asking sparring partners from South Korea and China.