Rio 2016 Olympics: India brings east, west to table

With four singles players at Rio Olympics, India paddlers benefit from blending Chinese and European techniques.

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Soumyajit Ghosh is the highest ranked Indian singles player at World No. 65.

During practice matches with his coach, the renowned Peter Karlsson, Soumyajit Ghosh would never keep score. Part of the reason was that, back in 2010, the then teenager would never win against the Swede. All his life, Ghosh played close to the table, rushing his shots in the process – a typical Chinese trait. But here, at the training centre in Falkenberg, Ghosh took two steps back, an European approach. He started mixing his positioning, giving him more time to react to a shot, read Karlsson’s movement and confuse the opponent, eventually breaking his coach’s unbeaten run. The tactic of mixing the two stances became a seamless habit helping propel the now 22-year-old’s ranking from the 450-plus range, to being the top ranked Indian on 65. And just like the Siliguri-resident, the rest of the Indian contingent too has benefitted from blending the European and Chinese styles.

Indian table tennis has recently struck an interesting and unprecedented juncture. The country has never managed to attain the maximum singles quota limit of four players – two men and two women – in the event for the Olympics before. That is until Ghosh, Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra and Mouma Das secured berths for the quadrennial event. And in all his 35-years’ worth of experience of being a part of the national coaching set-up, head coach Bhawani Mukherji asserts that these achievements are no accidents, but in fact, are credits to the relatively new ‘Indianised style.’ “This new style is good,” he says, proudly.

After spending long confused years surveying the Europeans and Chinese styles, based on the two prominent proponents of the sport, the Indians have sorted a steady amalgamation of the two. Since the London Olympics of 2012, the devised mixture has been moulded into a strategy that varies between each player.

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For Ghosh, who had qualified for London and was the first to book a spot for Rio, his ability to switch and adapt his positioning at the table has been the more telling weapon – what he dubs his ‘surprise element.’ However, when he first went to Sweden, he remembers attempting all his shots on the forehand. European play involves a dominant backhand stroke, and it was Karlsson, who possessed one of the fiercest backhands in the sport, who introduced the touch to Ghosh. “The coach told me that I can’t play the entire game on the forehand because my fitness wasn’t that great. So instead of me needing to move my body to the left to allow a forehand, I could move less and play a backhand,” Ghosh explains.

Meanwhile Kamal, ranked 73rd in the world and a veteran of the 2004 and 2008 Olympics is considered the only Indian with a truly European style of play. Tall and strong, Kamal has spent most of his career playing at least four feet away from the edge of the table, typical of the Europeans. Yet just like Ghosh, before moving to Europe – Germany in his case – Kamal played only forehand shots. “European play uses backhand shots very extensively. I didn’t use it much before I went to Germany. But now I’ve used it efficiently with the forehand shots that I already knew,” says Kamal, who currently play for Borussia Dusseldorf.

As for the women, Das, who played in Athens 12 years ago has seen a transformation to her game in these past two years. With a physical frame that is under the five-foot mark, Das mostly played close to the table. “Over the years she’s started moving backwards to middle distances, which is anywhere between 18 inches and four feet. That has brought in a consistent streak and made a big difference to her game,” explains former national coach Kamlesh Mehta.

Batra, in turn, in spite of her towering 5-foot-11 frame, stands close to the table. Her height would normally have traditional coaches advise her to stand far from the table to enable her long arms to reach for the ball and build rallies. Yet her close positioning has aided her uncanny ability to reduce the tempo despite being just inches off the table. “Since she stays in front, she’s worked very hard at improving her forehands. That’s a typical Chinese trademark. Stand close with a good forehand. And that is despite her very European height,” Mehta adds.

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In line with the mixed styles that the Indians have employed is the influx of Asian coaches to the national camps. Peter Engel of Germany, who left after the Incheon Asian Games in 2014 was the last European head coach for the Indian team. Since then, there has been a focus on bringing in Asian coaches to work at the grassroots and state levels, while also providing insight into the national team training sessions. “They’ve been very helpful and have not been prescribing typical Asian styles or European styles. They’ve been open to each player’s need and have advised them accordingly. They’re also quite happy with mixing up the styles,” asserts Mukherji. “The Chinese, who have started dominating the game too have started mixing up the styles,” he adds.

China’s Yin Wei has taken up youth level coaching in Ajmer, while North Korean pair of Jong Son An and Kim Song Han have addressed state level training.

Along with the minor tweaks or overhauling adjustments have come a string of successful results. As hosts of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in Surat last December, India finished with 16 medals – their biggest tally in the tournament. This was followed by both the men’s and women’s team winning gold in the second division of the World Table Tennis Team Championship in March, which sealed their entry into the champions division. And now the Indian contingent secured four singles berths for Rio in August.

In the interim though, Das and Batra will continue training in the country and Kamal will head back to Germany. Ghosh in turn, is already looking forward to continuing his duels with his coach in Sweden. “Now he can’t beat me at all,” he laughs.