‘Road to Olympics should start from school’

Disappointed with the Indian display at the Rio Olympics, former Olympian Kamlesh Mehta has stressed that development for table tennis must start from the school level with the 2024 Games.

Mehta, who has been a coach and administrator himself, said he expected at least two Indians to cross the first round but all four were ousted in the first round itself.

“Yes, the players themselves know it was a disappointing show. We expected at least two of our participants to go into the second round but it didn’t happen,” he admitted.

But he defended Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, Mouma Das and newcomer Manika Batra for their poor show.

“They seemed jittery a bit. Sharath Kamal played well but his opponent (Adrian Crisan of Romania (4-1) was too good on the day. It was a first Olympics for Manika and she had a close game (2-4, against Poland’s Katarzyna Grzybowska). She needs more international games to do better.

“Mouma and Soumyajit also tried but their opponents played better,” he rued. Ghosh lost (1-4) to Padasak Tanviriyavechakul of Thailand while Mouma was thrashed 4-0 by Daniela Dodean of Romania.

Mehta felt that they had to plan now for 2024 Olympics and it had to start from the school. “I have been in three Olympics (twice as player in Seoul and Barcelona and once as coach in Athens) and I know people expect medals and the kind of pressure it builds. I want to do whatever I can to take up the level of sports and take to the next level to make Gen Next better,” said Mehta who is the director of 11-Even Sports, which will be conducting inter-school state championships simultaneously across 27 states on National Sports Day (August 29).

“We have made a commitment with TTFI to conduct this tournament for the next 10 years and take it to all 33 affiliated states. We want to churn out the best talent. The road to the Olympics should start from the school,” he said.

“Some schools conduct exams even on National Sports Day. We want to generate awareness for holistic development that’s why we chose August 29 to start our tournament.”