A. Sharath Kamal, Indian table tennis’ oldest warhorse, may have been ousted on the first day of the main draw in the WTT Star Contender Goa 2023 event.
However, the biggest talking point on Wednesday was the presence of a personal coach for an all-India affair in the most high-profile table tennis event to have been staged in India.
On Wednesday afternoon at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, G. Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai were up against each other in the men’s first round after the latter qualified for his first Star Contender event main draw.
While Harmeet walked out of the practice area alone, S. Raman, Sathiyan’s personal coach, walked along with his ward. Contrary to the convention of two Indian team players playing without anyone in his/ her corner in international meets, Sathiyan had Raman advising him.
Raman was at his animated best during the 28-minute affair that went 3-1 in Sathiyan’s favour. The former National champion’s presence started murmurs about ‘unfair play’ in the hall.
Some of the India squad regulars pointed out that even in the WTT Contender tournament in Slovenia in November 2021, Raman had sat through Sathiyan’s match versus Harmeet.
Harmeet admitted the events of Slovenia repeating on the home turf didn’t surprise him.
“It was a bit odd but it wasn’t a surprise. The last time it happened in Slovenia last year, it was a bit unsettling. But it’s okay, that wasn’t the reason for the loss. I lost since he won the crunch moments during the match,” Harmeet told Sportstar after the match.
Sathiyan said the incident will not create any bad blood between him and Harmeet, whom he has been playing with and against since their age-group days. “Unfortunate that we played an Indian in India, but he is my personal coach, so... I there is any policy change, we will definitely adhere to it. There has never been a problem between me and Harmeet,” Sathiyan said.
Despite national coaches, Subhajit Saha (men) and Mamata Prabhu (women) having been assigned for the tournament, Sathiyan, Sharath, and Manika Batra preferred to play their matches with personal coaches in their corner.
Sportstar understands that the trio has been granted permission by TOPS to be advised by personal coaches for individual events on the World Tour.
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