TTFI’s 15-day online programme for coaches

As the country faces an extended lockdown till May 3, SAI and the TTFI have come up with a 15-day online ‘Coach Education Programme.

The 15-day programme will begin on Thursday. (Representative Image)

As the country faces an extended lockdown till May 3, the Sports Authority of India and Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) have come up with a 15-day online ‘Coach Education Programme' (through app Zoom), beginning on Thursday.

“Everybody is at home now. This program will be a great motivation and education for coaches as they get to learn from renowned coaches and players like Peter Engel, Manjit Dua, Kamlesh Mehta, S. Raman, Muralidhara Rao, Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Sandeep Gupta, Soumyadeep Roy, Brett Clarke and, N. Ravichandran, among others. There will be more than 100 coaches from SAI and TTFI panel,” M. P. Singh, Secretary of TTFI, told Sportstar on Wednesday.

The TTFI calendar, according to Singh, will be finalised once it gets the approval of SAI and Union Government.

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“Because National ranking tournaments involve a large gathering of more than 1000 players. When the International Table Tennis Federation is done with their calendar, we will do ours,” he said. “We require at least 12 days for one National ranking tournament. Once we start, we will do it very fast. It will be very hectic, though, for all the players.”

The new foreign coach, said Singh, will be more or less decided by October-November next year. “We have received some names from Sharath Kamal & Sathiyan and we will see what can be done,” he said.