When most of their friends would be in a holiday mood, the twin sisters, Laasya and Sasya, would have an enviable task at hand – to balance their studies and play as they have to write Intermediate exams and also compete in three major national events in January.
The most-familiar table tennis duo from the city, with a twin objective of making it to B.Tech programme and also excel in the sport, are having extended training sessions under the tutelage of coach K. Sreedhar at AWASA Academy in Khairtabad.
These sisters did not have a great year not for want of performance, but because they opted for sciences which meant spending more time studying.
“Thanks to our dad who booked flight tickets so that we will be back in Hyderabad on our exam days and also don’t miss out competing in the three major events – the SGFI Nationals, the Junior Nationals and the Senior Nationals,” says the 16-year-old Laasya.
For the record, Sasya (State no. 2) and Laasya (State no. 3) would be competing in both singles and doubles (partnering with each other). Is it too taxing? “Not really, they enjoy the game so much that they never complain,” insists the coach.
What are the strong points of their game? “Laasya is attacking on both flanks while Sasya is technically more correct. But I must tell you, once they make it to the engineering course, they will be totally different players for they can focus more on their game,” says Sreedhar, who traverses a long distance from ECIL to Khairtabad for extended training sessions to both the sisters every day.
Interestingly, Laasya was a south zone champion in swimming and pursued both swimming and table tennis till class VII when her mother Sathya Lakshmi, herself a table tennis player, felt it would be too much to focus both on academics and the two disciplines and made them stick to only table tennis.
The sister duo has won 18 national-level titles in 2015 and 2016, and look ahead with a lot of hope.
“We know it’s going to be a difficult journey from now onwards. But we are preparing in right earnest to make a mark at the highest level,” sign off the sisters.
