Age no bar for veteran table tennis coach Yin Wei

At 69 years, Wei hasn’t stopped coaching and is very active at Kolkata’s Centre of Excellence training children of different age groups for three years.

Jammu Senior Nationals: Yin Wei (centre) with Jubin Kumar (left) and Anal Kashyap. | Photo Credit: K. Keerthivasan

Yin Wei is one of the first Chinese table tennis coaches to train the Indians.

As the coach of Petroleum Sports Petroleum Board Academy, Ajmer (PSPBA), Yin, whose tenure began in 1995, grew in his job and became an integral part of the Academy, going on to produce a host of International paddlers including Soumyadeep Roy, Shibaji Datta, A Amalraj, Jubin Kumar, Anal Kashyap, Aman Balgu, Devesh Karia Soumyajit Ghosh and Manav Thakkar among several others.

At 69 years, Wei hasn’t stopped coaching and is very active at Kolkata’s Centre of Excellence training children of different age groups for three years.

Sporting a ‘Khelo India: cap, Wei is present at the ongoing UTT-84th Senior National and Inter-State table tennis championship here, when a man comes to the stage and informs Wei that his ward is playing at table 11.

Without wasting much time, the coach reaches the spot. When asked if he has grown tired of the job, “Wei replied, “Not at all. Every day I study the latest articles on technical aspects, watch videos and I watch all the latest International tournaments.”

His students heap praise on Wei for his immense technical knowledge. “His wealth of technical knowledge is enormous. Whenever I am down and not in great form, I call him or go and meet him,” said former India No.1 Jubin Kumar. “He knows how to improve or correct the strokes of the paddler. What I am now, I totally owe it to him,” said Jubin, who was with Wei at PSPBA from 1998 to 2008.

Anal Kashyap, one of Assam’s top padders, was the first batch of trainees at PSPBA in 1994-95 and recalled his time at the Academy. “The training sessions with Wei were well organised. It was very useful, especially in the technical aspects. If not for PSPBA and Wei I wouldn’t have been on the National scene,” said Kashyap, who was with the Academy from 1995-2001.

The warm friendship and respect that the players, Jubin and Kashyap have for Wei shine through. “We are still in touch with Wei. He gives us time, talks about the game and enquires about our families,” they said. “It’s a life-long relationship. It cannot be broken,” said Wei.

Meanwhile, the qualification rounds for singles began on Friday.