Paddling to win a few medals

Indian table tennis players are hoping to put up a good show at the Beijing Olympics.

Of all the slim Olympic medal hopes that are being shouldered by Indian athletes in various disciplines, table tennis would be the last sport any punter would like to bet on. In shooting, expectations are likely to be huge; as for tennis, it all depends on the Indian Express' compatibility and willingness to partner each other, and hockey might just flatter to deceive this medal-starved nation yet again.

So when these sports have played with this nations' hopes so often, where would table tennis "" a sport which has been in the wilderness off and on "" stand?

Not that great, one would presume. But ask the paddlers and they are convinced they can prove their doubters wrong. One man who is confident of putting up a good show is Sharath Kamal. Kamal who is 25 years old, and at 73 is one of the highest-ranked TT players in India, is not talking through his hat. "It's obvious that not many people would be hoping for a medal, not at least from table tennis. That just spurs us on to go there and do the job to the best of our abilities."

While none of the paddlers have qualified yet for Beijing "" Kamal is extremely confident of doing so. "Even in 2004, qualification was a problem and this time too we would see very few making the cut for Beijing." But the real task is doing well at the Olympics and Kamal knows that this will be a daunting task. Kamal is candid enough to say that he himself is not harbouring any hopes of winning a medal but he is not ruling out that possibility entirely by saying that, "In sport, miracles do happen."

Ironically, unlike other sports, where a lot of experts blame the lack of infrastructure development or even talent on the fact that schools and colleges don't promote them, in table tennis one can't even say that. Almost every other school has TT tables and children are encouraged to take up the sport and do well.

This is a point that Poulomi Ghatak, India's highest-ranked women's tennis player, also endorses. "The problem isn't that enough people are not taking up the sport. In fact, I think the number of those who play this sport would be far more compared to tennis or badminton." The real problem, according to Ghatak, is the fact that it's not a high prize-money sport and thus not many players want to take the step from junior to the senior level.

Agrees Kamal. "Take a look at the junior-level players. They are more than a match to other Asian and European players, but academics takes precedence as they don't see much moolah in the game." Ghatak, 24, who was part of the team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, is confident of a good showing at Beijing. "The good thing about the lead up to the Games this time is that the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) is sending people to foreign countries for training and even participating in more tournaments." Foreign exposure, according to Kamal, is important. "Playing with both Asian and European counterparts has helped me develop my game." Both these players "" big names in the Indian table tennis circuit "" give a lot of credit to the TTFI. From foreign coaches to financial support, the TTFI has been helping the players a lot as compared to a few years ago. "When I had started out, it was a bit tough to survive in the game as there was not enough motivation, but now things are looking extremely good," claims Ghatak.

With a gold medal in his kitty at the Commonwealth Games, Kamal is confident of breaking into the top 50 by the end of the table tennis season in May 2008. With the Beijing qualifiers scheduled to happen sometime in February, both these players are looking to nail their places and a few others too would be hoping to follow their lead. Mouma Das, another talented paddler who has been doing well in the national circuit, and Soubajit Saha from the men's side, are also Beijing hopefuls.

The paddlers seem confident of making it to Beijing and hope to put up more than a decent show. The beauty of sport lies in its uncertainty. And just this once, maybe this uncertainty may turn to certainty of winning an Olympic medal or two. Miracles do happen.