Indian TT team to train in Germany

Ace paddler Sharath Kamal on Friday revealed the Indian men’s table tennis unit would sweat it out at the German National Training Centre in Dusseldorf ahead of the World Team Qualification Tournament, scheduled to take place in Gondomar (Portugal) from January 22 to 26 next year.

Currently part of a camp at SDAT AKG, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, here, the quintet of Sharath, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar and Antony Amalraj will shift its base to Germany in a bid to hit full throttle. “I chose Dusseldorf. This was decided about four-five months ago. We will be competing in Portugal, so we thought it would be better to go to some country in Europe,” Sharath told mediapersons.

As the German national team has already sealed its berth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it won’t be involved in the qualifying competition and is hence ready to lend a helping hand. “I don’t know if Timo Boll will be there. We will have sessions with Patrick Franziska, Benedikt Duda and Ricardo Walther. These are all German internationals,” he added.

The 37-year-old remarked a couple of key factors played a role while picking the venue for the camp abroad. “We are going there because the facilities are very good. There are also a lot of international sparring partners. Apart from the German team, there will be a couple of players from Sweden (Anton Calberg and Kristian Karlsson) and one from Egypt (Omar Assar),” explained Sharath.  The nine-time national champion disclosed the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) had suggested Portugal as an option for the camp, but chose not to go to the host country of the Qualifiers. There could be a case where India might end up playing a crucial duel against Portugal at the event, according to Sharath.

“The Federation wanted us to go there. We thought there is a possibility of facing it, so decided against it. We needed to go to a country which is not our rival.”  India, ranked No.8 in the world, is seeded fourth at the qualifying event, where nine places are up for grabs. “This is our best-ever ranking. On paper, we must make it to the Games,” he stated.

There will be five matches – four singles and one doubles – per tie at the tournament in Portugal, similar to the Tennis Davis Cup format. Sharath asserted India would zero in on the doubles combination only after the camp in Germany. “We want to do it there. As of now, we are trying all permutations and combinations possible.” Former table tennis star Kamlesh Mehta was in the city to extend his wishes to the Indian team, which is on the up. “There is great bonding within the squad and that’s one of the reasons we are getting better every year. All the very best to the boys,” said Kamlesh.