Indian players upbeat for Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships

New Delhi, May 2, 2013:  India will be represented by five men and four women’s paddlers at the 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, to be held at the Thyagraj Stadium between May 5 and 10.

They include veteran and top world-ranked paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, Anthony Amalraj, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty in the men’s section, while it will be K. Shamini, Mouma Das, Madhurika Patkar and Neha Aggarwal in the women’s category.

All the men paddlers, who have had an extended stint at Falkenburg Club training centre in Sweden, as well those women players who went to Zhengding National Table Tennis Training base in China, have returned well prepared for the prestigious home event commencing here this Sunday.

Eight-time national champion Kamalesh Mehta, who accompanied the men paddlers, was very confident of the performance of the men’s team which is expected to keep the Indian tricolor flying high. 

“The boys have had a very good stint in Sweden with sparring partners of different hues. That should stand them in good stead in the Commonwealth Championships in New Delhi,” said Mehta.

Mehta, however, warned that our paddlers should be wary of the Singapore team which undoubtedly will be the top team to watch out for. “Singapore has very good players in Jian Zhan, ranked 25 in the world, and Hu Li, ranked at 55 in the world, will be the tough opponents who are expected to carry the burden on their shoulders,” he added.

Even otherwise, Mehta said, the Singapore players have big reputation because of their Chinese origin. “Unfortunately, none of our players had faced them before. That could be a disadvantage,” he said.

But on the distaff side, national coach Bhawani Mukherjee is pinning his hopes on the regular stalwarts like Shamini and Mouma Das with able support coming from local girl Neha Aggarwal, who has been in a fine form this season after she took Delhi to team title at the Raipur nationals early this year.

Here again, they will have to watch out for the teams like Singapore, the current world champions, and England. Singapore is spearheaded by world no. 4 Tianwei Feng, while England will hope Joanna Parker, ranked 135, to get the team on the podium.

“The girls have had very good training sessions in China, playing against their regulars at the centre. This should come in handy to our players. Moreover, Mouma has the experience to handle top-ranked players having been in the semifinals in the last championships in Glasgow, Scotland,” said Mukherjee.

“Our girls have prepared well for the championships and with a good draw we can hope to finish on the podium,” he added.

A TTFI Press release