"This is the golden era of table tennis in India" - Manika Batra's childhood coach is hopeful of a medal at the Paris Olympics
Paris 2024 will be the 10th Olympic games to feature table tennis. Ever since its the introduction in Seoul 1988, Table Tennis at the Olympics has seen Indian participation in every edition but alas, never a medal. However, this year, pundits are more optimistic than ever before.
In a recent interaction with the All India Radio (Akashvani) Delhi, renowned coach Sandeep Gupta expressed his hopefulness and proclaimed that we are currently living through the 'golden era of table tennis in India'. Awarded the prestigious Dronacharya Award in 2019, Gupta is known to have nurtured and produced some star players for the country. The most famous of the lot is Manika Batra.
"First of all, the fact that both of our men’s and women’s team have qualified for the Olympics is an achievement," Gupta said. "And if they perform to their potential, I have hopes that India could win its first medal in table tennis at the Olympics this year. These players are playing in the individual category as well as the team event. This is the golden era of table tennis in India. And I am hopeful that we can get a medal at the Olympics this time."
Team events were introduced at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Until now, no Indian team had ever been able to secure a qualification for the same. This year though, both the men's and women's team have made the cut. The expectations from the women's team - which would feature Gupta's disciple Batra - are particularly high.
Gupta backs his optimism with sound logic:
"You see, recently in the WTT Team Championship, they lost to China 3-2. But Ayhika (Mukherjee) and Srija (Akula) defeated the World Rank No.1 (Sun Yingsha) and World Rank No. 3 (Wang Yidi), respectively. So, these three (Mukherjee, Akula and Batra) will be together representing the Indian team at the Olympics. We have a strong team."
Although, in the final squad - that was announced after this interaction - Archana Kamath was picked ahead of Ayhika Mukherjee. Mukherjee has been named "the alternate player" i.e. the reserve player who can be summoned in case of an injury.
"Manika Batra's performance in the WTT Saudi Smash is a milestone that upcoming players can look up to": Sandeep Gupta
In the same interaction, Gupta also heaped praise on his disciple for what has been regarded a "dream run" by many. In the recently concluded WTT Saudi Smash, Manika Batra defeated some heavyweights on her way to the quarterfinals. The opponents she toppled over included China's Wang Manyu and Germany's Nina Mittlelham.
"The fact that she defeated Wang Manyu, who was ranked number 2 in the world, deserves a lot of appreciation," Gupta said. "She performed really well for the country and defeated a member of the World Champion Chinese team. It is a great achievement for Indian table tennis and will prove to be a milestone that upcoming players can look up to."
The ace paddler had been on the receiving end of some criticism after she failed to finish on the podium in the Asian Games held in China in October 2023. Before this, she had also failed to defend her gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. However, unlike the critics, coach Gupta believes that her performances on the table never really dipped. He said:
"Her performances were right up there even before this. Sometimes, it is just that things don’t click. You end up conceding an unforced error or two and that becomes the difference. Table Tennis is a fast game and one or two errors can make a huge difference."
Gupta reckons that Batra had better control and did not concede as many unforced errors this time, which helped her register the wins. He also emphasized that there was never a doubt about her talent:
"Manika has always had the talent. When she defeated Singapore’s Feng Tianwei (in Commonwealth Games 2018), Tianwei was ranked no. 4 in the world. So, she defeated equally good players to win her medal. You only reach this level when you are consistently performing. Just that sometimes you end up making an unforced error or two which costs you the game. But her performance on the table never really saw a dip."
Sandeep Gupta is hopeful about India winning their first medal at the Olympics this year in Paris. He believes that that would further augment participation and strengthen the sport in the country.
"For instance, when PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal won medals at the Olympics, the participation in badminton increased rapidly," Gupta said. "Everybody - girls in particular - wanted to be like PV Sindhu or Saina Nehwal. That led to a huge increase in the number of enrolments into badminton academies across the nation.
"Earlier, there used to be one or two noticeable names. Today, you have Prannoy, Srikanth, the doubles duo (Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy) that is performing so well," he added. "So, badminton saw a boom..... Basically, when the base at the bottom increases, you start seeing more and more players coming through."
Overall, Sandeep Gupta believes that the future of table tennis in India is bright.
The singles event in Paris will begin on July 27, while the team events would commence on August 5.