Soumyadeep brings TT academy under spotlight

The PSCB Academy at Ajmer was set up in 1995 with the sole aim of providing best training facilities to upcoming players, both in the boys and girls sections. Chinese coach Lei Wei has been entrusted with the job of guiding players and is assisted by Vijay Kumar Aggarwal (SAI) and Manoj Chauhan (PSCB).

What began as a small group in 1995 (six girls and eight boys), the Academy presently has 14 players (13 boys and one girl). Soumyadeep, Anal Kashyap, Shibaji Saha and Sukanto Das are in the junior section. David Zodintria, T R Rohit, Anunav Ganguly, A Amal Raj and Sameer Prabha are form the sub-junior category, while the lone girl trainee at the Academy is Bishakha Vijay. The cadet boys with the Academy are Devesh Karia, Arpit Bhopalkar, Priyanuj Borthakur and Zubin Kumar.

Soumyadeep Roy, of course, has had the best performance so far. Besides beating Dutta and Raman at the Nationals here, he had also won the men’s singles title at last year’s Khar Gymkhana prize money tourney in Mumbai (where he beat Raman in the final) and the Gudalore Jagannath Benefit Top 10 prize money at Chennai.

In the Asian Junior Championships at Chennai last year, Soumyadeep helped the Indian team earn a bronze in team events and in partnership with Subhajit Saha (Sr) won the bronze in doubles as well.

Anal Kashyap (originally from Assam) is another junior player from the Academy who has been doing well in recent tournament. After extending Raman to five games in the Jagannath benefit tournament, the Academy boy surprised Arjun Dutta in two straight games in the team championships here at the Nationals.

Playing her first year in senior section, Bishakha Vijay scored an upset win over former national champion Kasturi Chakraborty (Railways) in team events here. Rajasthan women lost to Railways 2-3.

The PSEB Academy entered its team in the National Games at Manipur last year where they lost to Tamil Nadu in the semifinals.

Academy coach V K Aggarwal seemed quite satisfied with the performance of the trainees so far in the current Nationals. “It was expected of Soumyadeep after his performance in Khar Gymkhana. We are happy for Anal Kashyap who has got a break at the right time. His victory over Dutta in team events will surely add to his confidence,” Aggarwal said.

“If the boys can get some international exposure, it will do them a world of good and we can expect better results at the international level,” he predicted.

PSCB spends about Rs 1 crore yearly on the Academy which also takes care of the trainees’ education. Their daily routine includes fitness and technical sessions. “In another couple of years, the Academy boys should be making waves at international level, too,” a confident Aggarwal predicts.