Why the table matters: India’s TT stars face a different game at Asian Games

“But there are no demarcated seasons for us. The segregation in TT is like first week clay, second grass and then clay again in a different country,” Sathiyan says.

In India, tables are grainy, faster and spinnier. In hotter conditions, the ball comes on faster. In Europe, it’s a little slower. Slowest are the DHS (Double Happiness) tables in China and Japan where the spin quotient comes down.

Sathiyan’s longtime coach S Raman runs an academy in Chennai, which brought in 2-3 different varieties of tables to help its players.

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“There’s three variables to TT conditions – vertical bounce, the amount of spin depending on the friction of the table and linear speed,” Raman says.

“You have to constantly keep recalibrating your playing style. Also, the same table brand can play differently in Conditions A, B or E. This makes it tough to get consistent results,” he adds.

Especially when Indian tables are grippier and the ball dances around wickedly at pace.

TT tables differ in bounce, linear speed, and spin depending on the friction of surface. (Express Photo by Pichumani Krishnan)

Manush Shah, on whom many hopes rest due to his partnership with Manav Thakkar that’s No.3 in the world, explains the granular behaviour of tables.

“We need to wait more, produce more power from the lower body in order to not get injured in the upper body. Also, we tend to stay closer to the table to be prepared for shorter balls inside the table.”

Slower balls means there are fewer opportunities to attack. “So, we focus on defence and then bring attack into the rally,” he added.

One could be training all year in India, where the ball is whizzing; and stand a foot behind. When they play abroad, slow balls demand more power, which the top Chinese and Japanese have trained for. Indians like the Mukherjeas, Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula besides Ankur Bhattacharya, Sathiyan and the MnMs have been confronting this challenge over the years.

Crash course

New sensation Syndrella Das is learning to adapt.

“We have to adjust to different conditions all the time. As soon as you get a good feel of one set of conditions, the next one is completely different,” she says.

Sathiyan says his mind zones in on what to expect the moment he clears immigration. For Sutirtha, adapting to tables has become a part of life, though a webpage all paddlers visit ahead of a tournament is the tournament prospectus which mentions the type of table to be used.

“You just have to acclimatise within a short time on the practice day. They declare on the prospectus. You can’t buy so many tables for training, can you?” she remarks.

You can – if you are in China or Korea.

“I’ve seen Korean training halls and in China, where they train with 12-13 types of tables, while India will have at most 3-4. In Chennai, we have 2-3 variations including a DHS table,” Sathiyan says. “DHS tables in China and Japan result in the spin quotient reducing. It puts more pressure on the legs because the ball comes slowly a lot of times. It changes strokemaking. When it’s slow, the body movement changes since you are used to play from much behind in India.”

“When the ball moves at speed, less effort is extracted from the body,” says fellow international Snehit Suravajjula. “It gets difficult when competing abroad because of the tables.”

Coach Raman, though, cuts through the table-babble and benefits of simulation.

“It’s ultimately down to the player. As long as you know that a table is neither your best friend nor your worst enemy, you are OK,” he says.

He says the talk about the ‘latest table’ often tends to be a “manufacturing gimmick.”

“Like iPhones,” he laughs. “It’ll just be a little tampering with the top surface of the table.”

(With inputs from Bhuvan Gupta)