Recently-retired Indian table tennis great A Sharath Kamal has given himself 11 years to produce the country's first Olympic medallist in the racket sport and German football club Borussia Dortmund could end up being his unlikely ally in pursuit of this path-breaking dream.
As the National Sports Governance Bill is set to become a law, the country's national federations and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President P T Usha on Tuesday welcomed the landmark policy, calling it a step in the right direction as India gears up to bid for the 2036 Olympics.
Indian table tennis legend A Sharath Kamal has announced that the WTT Contender Chennai, scheduled for March 25-30, will be his last tournament as a professional athlete.
'Improvement is a continuous process and I am committed to it,' Manika Batra added.
The Indian men's team settled for the bronze medal after suffering a 0-3 defeat to Chinese Taipei in the semi-finals of the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Astana, on Thursday.
'Paris 2024 was the first time that both the men's and women's team qualified for the team championships.' 'The women's team made it to the quarter-finals, just one short of the medal round, and the men's team also did well.' 'The mixed doubles is another event where India is doing very well.' 'So these three events are events where there is a possibility of us winning medals at the Olympics.'
'For the next nine months to one year I would still be an active player.'
Veteran table tennis player A Sharath Kamal on Friday said he was "pretty surprised" at being named India's flagbearer at the Paris Olympics ahead of people like Tokyo Games gold-winner Neeraj Chopra and described the honour as a recognition of his years of toil.
National champion Harmeet Desai, ranked 86th in the world in men's singles, is seeded 49th. He will make his Olympic debut.
Veteran Sharath Kamal and world no. 24 Manika Batra will lead the Indian men's and women's squads respectively at the Paris Games, where the country will make its Olympic debut in team events.
'As of now, there's no update from the Railways. The scheduled time (of departure) here is 4am but we doubt the train will start from Chennai tonight'
How will Russian athletes be cleared to compete at Paris 2024?
Sharath will be honoured with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the country's highest sports recognition, later this month.
Yeoh, former Malaysian junior squash champion, made her Hollywood breakthrough when she was cast as the first ethnic Chinese Bond girl in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies opposite Pierce Brosnan.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
40-year-old Sharath showed that age was just a number.
World C'ships: Sajan Prakash finishes 25th, fails to progress to final
India's leading table tennis player Harmeet Desai feels he has been "unfairly" left out of the singles competition for the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Indian table tennis duo of G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai notched up a dominating 3-1 win over Emmanual Lebesson and Alexandre Cassin in the summit clash to claim the men's doubles title at the WTT Contender Tunis on Saturday.
The reigning world champion duo of Chen Meng and Wang Yidi gasped in surprise seeing the backhand return of Ayhika Mukherjee, who, in part, engineered India's biggest triumph of the Asian Games thus far.
Justice Rekha Palli, who was hearing Batra's petition alleging that the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) was carrying out its selection processes in a non-transparent manner and targeting certain individuals such as herself, said that based on the committee's report, she would consider the issue of appointing an administrator to run the national sports body.
The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) will make a fresh attempt to organise a training camp at the end of June but top players including Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan are not ready to travel anytime soon as the situation remains "unsafe".
Janendra Jain and Parth Goswami are the two lawyers in the panel while Yashpal Rana is the other member.
All these male politicians are unlikely to risk their sinecures to speak up in support of a bunch of women wrestlers who have chosen to challenge a politician who appears to have the ruling regime in a stranglehold, points out Kanika Datta.
The designated women's coach of the Indian team, Anindita Chakraborty, was conspicuous by her absence in the knockout fixture. Instead, men's coach S Raman sat on the courtside as India women's were shocked by Malaysia in the quarter-finals.
'I would like to thank the Government, the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and most importantly, my family, who has been there for me and motivated me along this journey'
Star paddler Manika Batra was left out of the India squad for the Asian Championships, beginning September 28 in Doha, after failing to attend the mandatory national camp in Sonepat.
Star Indian paddler Manika Batra crashed out of the women's singles in the World Table Tennis Championships Finals after a first round defeat, while Sathiyan Gnanasekaran advanced to the second round in the men's singles, in Houston, on Wednesday.
It said it was also cancelling all veterans tour events and Table Tennis X events for the entire year while looking into cost-cutting measures to meet the financial challenges.
The high court had on September 23 stayed the TTFI's rule mandating compulsory attendance at the National Coaching Camp for selection in international events and had asked the Centre to conduct an inquiry into Batra's complaint against the sports body. On Friday, the court was informed by the Centre's counsel Apoorv Kurup that the enquiry report was ready and the judge asked them to file it in a sealed cover before it.
Kamal had lifted the Oman Open last month and took a leap of seven spots in the latest senior men's rankings released by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) to grab the 31st position.
The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) on Tuesday termed Manika Batra's decision to not take the help of national coach Soumyadeep Roy during her matches at the Tokyo Olympics as a brazen 'act of indiscipline'.
The ITTF Executive Committee met on Sunday to further discuss the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on the international table tennis event schedule.
Stuck indoors and without a training partner during India's coronavirus lockdown, the country's top table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran says he is staying sharp by practising with a robot. The governing International Table Tennis Federation has suspended all of its events and activities until June 30 and the three-week lockdown in force in India has disrupted the daily routines of athletes like Sathiyan.
Batra created history in Gold Coast, single-handedly taking India to a maiden team gold before winning a singles gold, another first.
Sathiyan, making his World Cup debut, went down 1-4 (11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 9-11, 8-11) to the German in the pre-quarters.
A complaint has been lodged at the Barasat women's police station in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, where the 24-year-old Arjuna awardee has been booked under the IPC sections for rape, criminal conspiracy, causing miscarriage without the woman's consent and cheating, the police said.
Following the Sports Ministry's directive asking all National Sports Federations to fall in line with the Sports Code, the Table Tennis Federation of India has amended its constitution by incorporating the provisions with regard to age and tenure.
With the jailed Ajay Singh Chautala on his way out after completing three terms, former Indian Administrative Service officer PC Chaturvedi is tipped to become the new president of the Table Tennis Federation of India when the body holds its Annual General Meeting on March 17.
Former Indian table tennis chief coach, Massimo Costantini has expressed interest in taking up the top job with the Table Tennis Federation of India, which has in turn asked the Italian to revert back with his terms and conditions.
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