Both Soumyajit and Ankita, along with 13 others, will be accompanied by foreign coach Leszek Kucharski and national coach Bhawani Mukherji.
The two back-to-back championships, the first one part of Euro-African circuit and the second an ITTF world tour meet, have come as godsend opportunities for all the players, especially the two, who have qualified for the London Games next month.
These are the only two meets where both Soumyajit and Ankita will be able to compete and assess themselves before the Games. But for the rest, the two championships will help them improve their world rankings, if not at least gain vital points to keep their rankings in check.
This is what was weighing heavily in their minds when the players left for Helsingborg this morning.
Soumyajit was confident of a good showing at the two events and admitted that the championships have come at the right time.
"We certainly needed these competitions. This will help me and the coach to assess our discrepancies," he said.
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Ankita seemed a bit anxious about the London Games, but said she was not thinking about the Olympics at the moment.
"Since this is our first Olympics there are bound to be some nervousness. Our coaches have been egging us on to take it as another championship. Yes, the stage is very huge and we will definitely give our best shot," she said. (More)