Why can’t we win an Olympic Gold in Table Tennis, ask Eesa and Musa

July 7th, 2019. It was already half past midnight, yet Eesaand Musa would practice forehand, chop and their favourite tomahawk serve inpreparation for the much awaited District Srinagar Table Tennis Championship2019 scheduled to commence in the Sher-i-Kashmir Indoor Stadium, Srinagar at 10A.M. on 7th July, 2019. Born dreamers, the duo thought of a memorable debut atdistrict-level championship which would go a long way into them being Olympicchampions some day.

At the end of the tournament, Musa emerged as the districtchampion at Under-12 level defeating sibling Eesa who has to settle for therunner-up trophy. While Eesa was upset, Musa was equally jubilant for defeatinghis arch-rival in the final. And at the end of the day, both would ask me, Whycan’t we win an Olympic Gold in Table Tennis?

   

Well before the tournament, I, as a parent was even moreexcited to witness my kids getting shaped into sportsmen – something what I didnot get an opportunity to do at such age. As the J&K Sports Council’s(JKSSC) ‘Calendar of activities for the year 2019-20’ was shared on 28th May,2019 on the J&K Sports Community watsapp group, I began to look for TableTennis’s calendar of events and was happy to find district-level tournamentscheduled on 28th June, 2019. On the same day, Eesa and Musa resumed what theyhad left at Jammu during winters – daily practicing. After all, they want tobecome the Olympic champions and emulate lawn tennis champion twins Bob andMike Brian and Serena and Venus Williams sisters.

While dreams are all equal, dreamers are not. Dreaming in adeveloped nation is supplemented by modern infrastructure, scientific skill andfitness training and above all professional attitude at all levels. Contrarily,talent in developing nations is marred by lack of infrastructure, proper skilland fitness training and negative attitude at all levels of human resources.

To explain, district Srinagar TT championship 2019 wasoriginally scheduled to start on 28th June as per the J&K SSC’s calendar ofactivities. To confirm the schedule, a week before the start of the tournamentI went to the venue personally and to my dismay, the venue in-charge who wasnot aware about the event, guided me to call J&KSSC IT team – responsiblefor publishing of ‘calendar of activities’, who in turn advised me to file acomplaint with the Secretary, J&KSSC to figure out the person responsiblefor conducting the event. Isn’t it lack of planning and communication?

Somehow, J&K Table Tennis Association through socialmedia confirmed that the event was re-scheduled to 7th and 8th July, 2019starting 10 A.M. Full of energy, we reached the venue an hour before thescheduled time – to get a feel of the bounce of the tables to be used duringthe competition. Alas! There is a single dusty table lying dismantled in thecorridor. Does this quality of infrastructure contribute to making Olympicchampions? Surely not.

In the meanwhile, another competitor – 8-year old MohammadAdam, who looked equally inquisitive about the venue, joined the duo of Eesaand Musa. The trio along with a few other participants sat waiting for twohours before the organizing secretary arrived at the venue at around 11 A.M. tostart the process of registration. Incidentally, in conversation with Adam’sfather Dr. Irfan, it emerged that he was equally dejected with the level ofpreparation done for conducting the tournament.

Having accompanied his two children – Adam and Iba – to thevenue, Dr. Irfan expressed, “Although I would encourage my children to takesports as a profession, yet to groom them into champions, it is necessary tohave basic infrastructure, proper coaching and a healthy environment in place.Coming to SKISC for district Srinagar Table Tennis Championship 2019, I amquite depressed with the level of preparation done by the organizers – be itpunctuality, quality of table being used and the overall atmosphere in theindoor stadium.”

“A single rotten table for 80 participants is pathetic.SKISC building is said to be among the best sports complexes in the country,but the facilities inside are poor by all standards. Back home, in thisculture, I would re-think of grooming children into sportsmen.”

Another parent to the venue Dr. Nasir Wani, an avid TTplayer since 1997, having participated in several inter-college andinter-regional TT championships in his youth said that he is very muchinterested to introduce Table Tennis to his children. However, given hisprofessional commitments, he is not able to spare time on coaching his childrenin Table Tennis. While Dr. Nasir Wani believes that Kashmir has enough talentto become the best globally, he felt aggrieved due to unprofessional behaviourof the organizers and the J&K State Sports Council. Commenting on thechampionship, Dr. Nasir said, “This year’s district TT was below par, nowherenear any district championship held in rest of the country. A single table formore than 50 participants: That is miserable.”

“To express my concern, I tried to call the J&K StateSports Council, but to my utter surprise, I could not find phone numbers of anyof the officials on the Council’s official website,” Dr. Nasir futher said.

Under-17 finalist Usman who played state-level tournament inJammu last year said, “Not to talk of metros or other states of the country,even in Jammu there are 5 to 6 tables to play in the indoor stadium with aprofessional coach deputed from the Sports Authority of India. Unfortunately,within the grand structure of SKISC, neither there is a table nor any coach togroom the upcoming Table Tennis players from the valley.”

As a responsible parent, with dream of emulating the likesof Bob / Mike Bryan and William sisters (Lawn Tennis stars) I helped my kidsinculcate the habit of saving their Eidi to purchase imported bats and otherequipment but for coaching, training etc., it is not feasible for a common manto take over the developmental roles of the government.

Without a table and a coach in place in the giganticSher-i-Kashmir Indoor Sports Complex, for talent like Eesa, Musa, Adam andothers, Table Tennis Olympic Gold is a fantasy. Better forget it!

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