Manika’s coach Chris Pfeiffer frontrunner to be India’s head coach
The Hindu
It will take some time to replace Sharath Kamal but we have a good crop of youngsters in every age category, says TTFI secretary Kamlesh Mehta
Chris Adrian Pfeiffer, Manika Batra’s personal coach from Germany, is the frontrunner to take over as India’s chief national coach in table tennis.
“It is yet to be approved but he is one name that we have shortlisted,” Kamlesh Mehta, the secretary of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), told The Hindu on the sidelines of the Sub-junior Nationals at the Alappuzha YMCA on Tuesday.
The TTFI is likely to finalise its new chief National coach at its AGM in Jammu next month.
S. Raman, who had been appointed as the country’s head coach last July by the Committee of Administrators, had resigned from the post recently.
With Sharath Kamal, who won the Commonwealth Games men’s singles gold in Birmingham last year, crossing 40, India should be quickly looking at youngsters who can take over from top stars like Sharath.
“It will take some time. Sharath has been playing for India for 20 years. So for anybody to take over from Sharath, or go somewhere near him, it is going to take time,” said Kamlesh, a former international and one of the country’s biggest stars in the sport.
“But I can say confidently that we have a very good crop of players who are doing well at every age category. That means that there is a flow, there is a line, so there is hope. And if you see the world rankings list, there are so many (Indians) in every category.”
He has worn India’s blues, albeit in an Under-19 World Cup, with K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat as his teammates. He has proudly adorned the Lion’s Crest — the famed Mumbai cricket logo — in all three formats. He has played with Yuvraj Singh, against Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid and has the likes of Rahul and Joe Root in his illustrious list of dismissals. He is also a software developer for an IT giant, based in California. Virtually every middle-class Indian over the last three decades at some stage dreams of being either a cricketer or an IT professional. Saurabh Netravalkar has been combining two dreams, even after relocating to USA to pursue academics at the prestigious Cornell University in 2015.
Unlike most of the Olympic-bound athletes, who opt to train abroad before the big event, boxer Amit Panghal prefers training in home conditions prior to Paris 2024. A former World championships silver medallist and a World No. 1, Panghal won the 51kg quota place in the only chance he got. He wants to follow his own plans to script success in Paris.