Indian table tennis players working on fitness, hope to win a few medals at the international levels.
Table Tennis has always been a popular pastime in India, with several housing societies, colleges and even corporate/companies having a Table Tennis table in their so-called gymkhana (a small area in some corner of their building).
So while many are aware of the basics, and can play the game well, most of them never pursue the sport seriously.
However, that all could change going forward.
With badminton players already making a mark at the international levels, TT players want to emulate their success story.
And like most sports, fitness is one factor which is bogging down the Indian Table Tennis players.
But the good news is that they are working on it, and with the introduction of the Table Tennis league, things are all set to become better.
Indian paddlers are now getting opportunities to play against top players, and even winning against them, give their confidence the much needed boost.
- Indians always considered table tennis a recreational sport, an activity, it was never a popular sport. But the mindset and facilities are improving in India.
- National players train in Indore before every tournament, where the hall has 25 odd tables. practicing there gives the players a big hall practice/experience and that helps when they go for world tours.
We are now working really hard on our fitness. We work on our legs and core, which are most important for the game. We are also working on our shoulders. We don’t do much of gym training but a lot of field exercising. We have so many competitions that it becomes difficult to do weight training, since we do a lot of game practice, field exercising gets easily accommodated with that.
Our national coach Massimo Costantini is working a lot on those aspects of our game and we are improving. He has got us a physio and keeps a tab on our diet. We are now able to fully concentrate on just playing and putting our best performance and that is beginning to help. We have three male players in the top 100 and Massimo is working with all of us to get into top 100 and bring some medals in the Commonwealth Games next year,” Sanil Shetty.
Indian Table Tennis players have great skills but lag in fitness, says Top German TT player
Four-time Table Tennis (TT) Olympic medallist Dimitrij Ovtcharov says that Indian TT players have top quality skills but they need to work harder on their fitness to compete with the best at international levels. The only reason they are not able break into the top-10 and top 20s is fitness. He also suggests top Indian TT players to spend more time playing leagues in Europe as the structure is already in place in Europe and they will get opportunities to play with the best.
Winner of the #ITTFWorldTour India Open! Great atmosphere, excellent feeling! #TeamOvtcharov #WirfuerD #tabletennis pic.twitter.com/dqXzV35hCY
— Dimitrij Ovtcharov (@dimaovtcharov) February 19, 2017
The Ukrainian-born Table Tennis player has observed several top Indian Table Tennis players (Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai) in Germany and was quite impressed with their skills.
“If India can create a proper structure for its players, I am pretty confident these very talented players can be among the very best. More and more events like the India Open should be conducted in India. I hope it is staged year after year and then there is bound to be better participation. Personally, I would love to come back,” said the German. (Indian Table Tennis League is also expected to launch soon).
Watch: 2016 Qatar Open Highlights: Dimitrij Ovtcharov vs Ma Long
“A lot has changed since 2010 (when he was in India). I have been able to achieve a lot and there is a lot more that I have to accomplish. It is not easy to wake up every day and train for six hours. You just have to keep working hard. I also do a lot of yoga which helps me stay focusesd, calms me down,” said Ovtcharov .
When asked if the Chinese domination in TT will ever come to an end…”Why not. But as of now that they are simply too good. If there are 30-40 champion players available in China, there are only three four in Europe who can compete with them. That is the major difference,” said the German, who is one of few foreigners to have played in the Chinese league.
Longest Table Tennis (TT) Rallies: Ultimate Test of Fitness
Table Tennis (TT) players need to have lots of stamina and are much more athletic than most other sports players.
Most residential societies have TT tables, and if you spend your time in the evenings playing Table Tennis with your friends, chances are that your fitness levels have not been tested at all. If you thought TT (ping pong) was the simplest of sports, you need to checkout these videos and see the amount of stamina these guys (and girls) have.
Some of the rallies just seem to go on and on forever. Enjoy these videos (and don’t forget to watch the last one in this series).
Check out this incredible rally at 2014 ITTF Swedish Open, one of the longest table tennis rallies of all time
Amazing 41-shot ping-pong rally
Another long-long TT rally
Top Funniest Moments in Table Tennis
The Funniest Table Tennis Match in HISTORY, played between Jean-Michel Saive (BEL) against good friend Chuang Chih-Yuan (TPE) Tai-Ben International.
‘Balls of fury’ Trailer…one of the few Hollywood movies (comedy) made on Table Tennis (Ping Pong).
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