Spoorthy is brimming with confidence

Published : Apr 12, 2012 00:00 IST

VIJAYAWADA, 09/03/2012:
Table Tennis player Karanam Spoorthy. Photo. Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar
VIJAYAWADA, 09/03/2012: Table Tennis player Karanam Spoorthy. Photo. Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar
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VIJAYAWADA, 09/03/2012: Table Tennis player Karanam Spoorthy. Photo. Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

The variation in Karnam Spoorthy's serves helps her launch assaults effectively, giving her a definitive edge. Although she's stronger against negative rubber players, her proficiency with rallies enables her to face all kinds of rivals with a fair measure of composure. By A. Joseph Antony.

Not yet 15, Karnam Spoorthy is set to stamp her class on the table tennis firmament. For one so young, just having written her matriculation exams, the Vijayawada native is quick to size up an opponent and her game.

The teenager's fore and backhand counter top spin driven game has rivals on the back-foot soon enough. So does her court craft find her in excellent control of the table as much as her receiving of serve is spot-on.

Little wonder then that she has Chief National Coach Bhawani Mukherji admiring. “Spoorthy is very talented, young and a promising player. Going by her performance at the national and international level, I see a good future for her,” he notes.

As a seven-year-old, Spoorthy followed in the footsteps of her father, Karnam Balram Prasad, a former Mangalore university paddler. Not quite as tall as the table her dad had at home, she soon grasped the game's finer points and in just a month or two was seriously into the sport.

She then came under Balram's friend Anil Babu's tutelage. When the latter left for the U. S., she was and continues to be mentored by K. Jayaram, a five-time A.P. state champion.

An attacking player right from the outset, Spoorthy's equipment is enough indication of her intent; a Butterfly Cofferlait blade, Butterfly Tenergy 64 forehand rubber, her back-hand bolstered by Tibhar Genius Optimum. “Carbon-based products suit my game better than the regular ply,” says Spoorthy, who enjoys kit support from Stag, the Indian manufacturer.

The variation in her serves helps her launch assaults effectively, giving her a definitive edge. Although she's stronger against negative rubber players, her proficiency with rallies enables her to face all kinds of rivals with a fair measure of composure.

Three hours of continuous evening practice at the Dandamudi Rajagopal Municipal Corporation stadium, backed up by another of physical conditioning every morning, have not only honed her skills but kept injuries at bay in an eight-year career.

Since Spoorthy's outgrown the competition in her native town, she practises with Vivek Vardhan, Sai Praneeth and Chandrashekar, all of them state-level players. Positioned at 35 in the International Table Tennis Federation's (ITTF) girls under 15 rankings, her sponsor Airports Authority of India (AAI) supports her to the tune of Rs. 2.4 lakhs per annum.

The amount meets expenses such as travel and accommodation but her parents spend upto Rs. 6 lakhs each year to let her pursue her passion. Achanta Sharath Kamal inspires her now as did Divya Deshpande when Spoorthy set out into the sport. A meeting with Zhang Yining, winner of nine world championship crowns and four Olympic gold medals is by far the most memorable moment of her life, even more than the U. S. Open cadet girls title Spoorthy won in Michigan, in 2010. A photograph with the greatest woman paddler to emerge from China was a bonus.

The Vijayawada lass however has her career plans carefully chalked out. “To crack the top ten of the ITTF world rankings in cadet girls, is the immediate target,” she says. Currently No. 35, she's eligible to compete in the said category till this year-end. In other sections, she's classified as follows: 681 among women, 388 in youth (under 21 years) and 232 in girls over 18.

Spoorthy then hopes to climb the rankings at the senior level, aim for a Commonwealth medal and qualify for the Olympics too. “Our junior girls hold out much more hope, especially Spoorthy, when compared to the boys, if rankings serve as the yardstick,” says Uppuluri Krishna Murty, an avid table tennis follower. “Of course with increased international exposure, rankings can improve but there's the risk of girls/women abandoning the sport, once they join professional courses, get married and so on,” cautions the senior South Western Railway officer.

“A bright student, she never drops below the 90 % barrier, despite her travels for table tennis,” says her father proudly. “Spoorthy competes often in the domestic circuit but international challenges could raise her game to global standards,” he adds.

Anindita Chakravarthy, an astute observer of the game and its players, has spotted a few chinks in Spoorthy's armour. “Spoorthy is good in rallies as also is her long service,” she notes. “She is not comfortable when it starts from chop, nor in playing short. She loses rhythm if her opponent plays down the line or to the extreme corners. Otherwise she has very good potential,” acknowledges the Indian Railways paddler.

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