Table Tennis Bug USA

Player Profile: Harmeet Desai

Harmeet has always been ahead of the curve. Winning the National Junior crown at a young age, and also gaining a ranking not only in the Youth section, but also in the Senior (Men's Category)


Harmeet is currently training hard at Sweden for the World Junior Championship to be held at Bratislava (Slovak Republic).

 Name: Harmeet Desai

Date of Birth:19-07-1993

Coaches: Hraday Desai, Peter Karlsson, Bhavani Mukherji, and Massimo Constantini.

Ambition: To win a medal in the Olympic Games.

Achivements: 

• Junior National Champion 09-10
• Bronze Medal in the Asian Junior Championships 2010
• Silver Medal in Singles in Taiyuan Junior Open 2009-2010.

Aniket's sensational performance at West Zone National Ranking Tournament

Pune's own Aniket Koparkar reached the finals of the West Zone National Ranking Tournament at Nagpur. He beat internationals and Bengal players Raj Mondal, Sourav Chakraborty, and Subhajit Saha before he eventually lost to Soumyadeep Roy (also of West Bengal).

This was Aniket's first finals in the Men's singles. With this stupendous show, he moves to joint 4th in the India rankings. If Aniket performs consistently now, his place in the India team is almost a certainity.

Martand Wins State Youth Championship Title

Pune's Martand Biniwale won the prestigious State Championship Table Tennis title at Nanded. Aniket Koparkar won the prestigious Men's Singles State Champion crown.

In the final, he beat Dhiraj Rai 4-2 while Aniket beat seasoned Eric Fernandes also with a similar score, 4-2.

Pune wins State Championship team title after a decade

The Pune district team won the Maharashtra Team title after a decade at the ongoing tournament at Nanded.

Aniket Koparkar, Rohit Chaudhari, Martand Biniwale, Atul Bapat, and Tanay Shinde represented Pune. Madhu Lonare is the coach of the team

Details coming soon.

Indian National Table Tennis circuit

The biggest stretch of the Indian Table Tennis season kicks off with the East Zone National Ranking Table Tennis tournament to be held at Bolpur, West Bengal. The first Zonal tournament was at Bangalore but we had a lull on the domestic circuit with all the focus on the Commonwealth Games.

All nationally ranked players are gearing up for the coming events and are sharpening their skills since they have only one week left for the first event.

Here's what we have in store in the near future:
(Please contact your State association for further details)

National Ranking Table Tennis Championships, 2010 (East Zone)

[ October 27th, 2010 - October 31st, 2010 ]
Bolpur, West Bengal

National Ranking Table Tennis Championships, 2010 (West Zone)
[ November 24th, 2010 - November 28th, 2010 ]
Nagpur, Maharashtra

National Ranking Table Tennis Championships, 2010 (Central Zone)
[ December 06th, 2010 - December 10th, 2010 ]
Gujarat

National Ranking Table Tennis Championships, 2010 (North Zone)
[ December 01st, 2010 - December 05th, 2010 ]
Delhi

Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships, 2010
[ January 17th, 2011 - January 13th, 2011 ]
Kolkata, West Bengal

Cadet & Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships
[ January 03rd, 2011 - January 08th, 2011 ]
Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Junior Youth National Table Tennis Championships
[ February 01st, 2011 - February 07th, 2011 ]
Gujarat

Table Tennis Player Profile: Zubin Kumar

Jubin executes his elegant Forehand Topspin

At first glance, you'll never guess that Jubin is a star player. You'll be forgiven for making that grave mistake because of the sheer humility Jubin personifies. 

The moment you see him on the table, he is a different being altogether. Playing with amazing timing and elegance, Jubin steamrolls opponents into the ground. Add to that the fact that he is a left-hander and you can't but admire his game.

Jubin was always in the shadows of his more famous peers until he won the Youth crown. A win over Sharath sent him to another league and his confidence soared. The exposure to international play owing to his consistent domestic performance, meant that Jubin leapt over others that had outshone him earlier.

Jubin's only bitter moment came when he was dropped out of the ongoing Commonwealth games. Many truly felt that he easily deserved to be in the team because he was consistently top ranked the year before. The selectors probably played it safe and went for experience. 

We are pretty sure that Jubin will bounce back with a vengence and move up and higher even faster. He is currently playing in the Spanish league, an experience that will only help him to conquer all that he wants.

Name: Jubin kumar

Date of Birth: 12/02/1987

Club: Tramuntana (Spain)

Coaches/Trainers: Many coaches helped me to improve.

Ambition: To play good and To win medal for country in major tournaments

TT Idol: Jean-philippe Gatien

Major Achievements: 

• Youth National Champion, 
• Inter-Institution Champion in 2009
• Gold medal in SAF games
• Finished 2009-10 season ranked No. 1 in India

TT Player profile: Maitreyee Bailoor

by Vikramadithya Shivaram

 Maitreyee in a photo shoot for the press

Name: Maitreyee Bailoor

Date of Birth: 2 April 1996

TT Club: Belgaum Table Tennis Academy(BTTA)

Coach: Sangam Bailoor (her father)

Idol: Sangam Bailoor

Ambition: To represent India and win Olympic Medal

Achievements:

• 2007 - won a bronze medal at the Cadet Nationals held in Chennai
• Was ranked 10th in the year 2009-2010
• Currently ranked No 1 in Karnataka in women, youth girls and junior girls

Best Win: Over Jagruthi Virmani (Delhi)

Best tournament: Chennai Nationals 2007

Player profile: Uday Athreya

 Uday in a multiball session at his University in Singapore

The humble and somewhat shy Uday is reluctant to be compared to Bona Thomas John (one of Karnataka's great TT players). Bona blossomed relatively late. Who knows what Uday could have achieved if he had a chance to continue playing seriously.


The good news is that he has started training in his University. Although Uday is very clear that he is playing only for fitness, we secretly hope that he goes on to achieve something that he dreamt of earlier in his career.

Date of Birth: 03-12-1986

Club: Winners Choice Sports Foundation

Coaches/Trainers: Vasanth Bharadwaj

TT Idol: Jan Ove Waldner

Ambition: Was to represent India internationally (but he hints that it is on the back burner for now)

Currently pursuing MS in Computer Science at NUS Singapore

Achievements:

• INTER SCHOOL U-19 NATIONAL CHAMPION, U-19 SILVER MEDALIST, U-17 NATIONAL CHAMPION
• 2 TIME ALL INDIA INTERBANK CHAMPION
• Silver medal at the All India inter university Table Tennis championships
• WAS RANKED 5 IN INDIA IN JUNIOR CATEGORY AND 8 IN SUB-JR CATEGORY,
  TEAM BRONZE MEDALLIST IN THE JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2002,
• TEAM GOLD,SILVER AND BRONZE MEDALLIST IN THE INTER-SCHOOL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
• Was ranked No.1 in Karnataka's Junior, Youth and Men's category
• WON THE Karnataka Rajyotsava award and the prestigious Karnataka Olympic Association award for achievements in the field of Table Tennis.

Best Win: Winning U-19 National School Championships

Best Tournament Result: Winner of All India Inter-banks

Player profile: C P Karthik by Vikramadithya Shivaram

Karthik: A Winner all the way!

Blessed with natural athleticism, Karthik is a treat to watch when on song. One who possesses sound basics and never hesitating to attack naturally.

This year he has been blasting his opposition in the state winning double crowns with great authority. The only concern is that he is in the midst of serious graduation studies, otherwise there is no doubt that he would have done something fantastic even at the national level.

Here's wishing that he'll do it after his studies!

Name: KARTHIK C P

Date of Birth: 21-01-1990

Club: BNMTT (Bhageerathi Bai Narayan Rao Maanay Table Tennis Academy)

Coaches/Trainers: Krunal Telang

TT Idol: None

Ambition: To represent India in International Tournaments

Achievements: 

• Inter school U-19 National Champion
• Silver and Bronze Medallist U-17
• Ranked in top 10 in India in age group in 2003
• Bronze medal in Team event at the Junior National Championship, 2002
• Ranked in Top 10 in India in age group in 2002
• Currently ranked no.1 in Karnataka in the Youth and Men's category