“I don’t see anything wrong in that” - Massimo Costantini on Table Tennis contingent having more support staff than players for Paris Olympics 2024
Renowned coach Massimo Costantini, who is currently appointed as the Indian table tennis contingent’s head coach for the third time ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024, is perfectly fine having more support staff than players for the marquee event in Paris.
Interestingly, Costantini is getting assistance from the other national coach of the contingent, Sourav Chakraborty. What makes things more interesting is four personal coaches have received government clearance to travel with the squad as all three women’s team members requested.
“The personal coaches are a part of the team mechanism. They will have their ideas and I have my own ideas. I will listen to them and they will listen to me and eventually the final call lies with me. I don’t see anything wrong in that,” Massimo Costantini told PTI.
Nine-member support staff, including Massimo Costantini, outnumbers six players
Moving into other details of the support staff, two masseurs and a physio will also accompany the six-member playing team, including three men and as many women’s players.
Ace paddler Manika Batra, youngster Sreeja Akula, and Archana Kamath will work closely with their respective personal coaches during the Summer Games in Paris.
In the men’s team, Sharath Kamal will have Chris Pfeiffer as his personal coach at the Games while Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar form the men’s contingent at Paris.
The Indian national team head coach Massimo Costantini completes the support staff.
It’s worth noting that only designated team coaches are expected to share the field of play while the personal coaches will not have permission to access the field of play, but they can watch from the stands and they will stay outside the Games’ village.
Notably, the Table Tennis Federation of India faced a sorry state of affairs after the Tokyo Olympics controversy in 2021. Moving into the details, Manika Batra refused to take the court-side help of then-national coach Soumyadeep Roy and further accused him of match-fixing.
Currently, all the personal coaches, including the Indian playing contingent, are in Sarrbrucken for the training camp. The entire contingent will leave for the French capital on July 21 for the Paris Olympics 2021.