Acknowledging that training hard is the only formula for success, Indian coach Bhawani Mukherjee said that his wards have prepared well ahead of the 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship which starts on Sunday at the Thyagraj Indoor stadium here.
Mukherjee said that Indian men’s team had its training camp in Peter Karlsson academy of Sweden and women’s team trained in China, to get ready for the Championship.
“We have prepared well prior to the tournament. In the previous edition of the tournament we had won seven medals and we are confident of bettering our show this time. As per our preparation is concerned, our men’s team had a 19-day trained in Sweden and our women team had a camp in China. As you know, China and Sweden are top teams in the world and our players are more confident after training there.
“The men’s team practiced with the Swedish national team. Playing against better opponent makes you stronger and hopefully they will put their best in the championship,” Mukherjee told reporters here on Friday.
Meanwhile, 14 nations in the men’s event and 13 in women’s category have confirmed their participation besides the hosts in the Championships.
The men’s team of veteran Achantha Sharath Kamal, experienced Subhajit Saha, mercurial Anthony Amalraj and 2012 Olympian Soumyajit Ghosh and youngsters Sanil Shetty and Harmeet Desai, is seeded number two after Singapore while the women’s team comprising of Kumaresan Shamini, Madhurika Patkar, Mouma Das, and Neha Aggarwal, is seeded third after Singapore and England.
That means that Singapore is the team to watch out for. But, another Indian coach Kamlesh Mehta said that two foreign exposure has enabled that Indian players are in right frame of mind to even beat Singapore.
“Singaporean side will be the strongest in the competition. We have practised against the Swedish national side during our foreign camp and the boys had a very good stint there. I feel it is our best chance to give them a fight or even beat them,” Mehta said.
The draw will be held on Saturday.
Among Indians, old war horse Kamal will be the best bet as he is also the top-ranked Indian. While the Chennai-lad is 70th in the world ranking, Amalraj and national champion Ghosh are placed at 149th and 187 respectively. Kamal, who had won silver in 2009, will also defend the doubles title pairing up with Subhajit Saha.
No visa for Pakistan players
Amid escalating tension between India and Pakistan, the former has not given visa clearance to latter’s paddlers to participate in the championships.
“We had requested permission for the all countries who had shown interest in participating. The Pakistani contingent was not given visa clearances by Indian government. They will not be part of the championship,” Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) president P C Chaturvedi said at a media conference.