Basketball was the first choice, but then her father had second thoughts of training Maria in a game that requires physical toughness. So he let her practice table tennis and years later, Maria gave back a basket full of joys, by becoming world champion.
The young paddler is all smiles and so unassuming sitting in her house ‘Kanjikkal Kallupurackal’ here on Wednesday as she recalls her feat as the only Indian girl to be part of the winning Asian team in the ITTF Global Challenge in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “It is sincere efforts backed by blessings of God,” recollects Maria. Her last year’s impressive performances including a silver medal for the country at US Open, equally splendid performances at French Open and Spanish Open and in the 17th Asian junior table tennis championship prepared her for the big kill in the world championship.
“It rained a little bit now and then in San Juan. But the cold was bearable,” says Maria who along with Liu Gaoyang (China), Lee Seui (South Korea) and Doo Hai Kem (Hongkong), formed the Asian side which defeated North America in the team final of the championship, which is conducted as a continental event for the under-15 age group. Maria admires the fitness of Chinese paddlers. Her role model is also a Chinese table tennis legend, Zhang Yining, whose ‘all round style,’ she believes she had inherited.
Her fitness regimen includes visits to gymnasium, a run along the beautiful Alappuzha beach and exercises that help her in the game. “I would like to be more aggressive and gain more mental strength,” says the 14-year old, who does not want to rest on her laurels. “Yes, she has to have a lot more mental courage,” chips in her father, Rony Mathew, a former Kerala University basketball play and currently a businessman.
Sports runs in her family, her elder brother, K.C. Mathew and her grand father, K.C. Mathew had played basketball representing their college teams. The family, along with mother, Reena Rony, huddled together to watch the live webcast of Maria receiving the trophy at the closing ceremony.
The ninth-standard student of SDV English Medium HSS, Alappuzha, Maria says the grueling sports schedule has not kept her out of sync with academics, thanks to the support of her teachers and friends. The girl also gives credit to Bobby Joseph, currently her coach and former coaches Gladyson Correya and M.R. Rajiv at YMCA TT Academy, Alappuzha, her training ground. Special thanks is for Michael Mathai who revived table tennis in the Academy in 2002-03, when 5-year old Maria walked in to the world of table tennis for the first time.
A young achiever, Maria advises aspiring paddlers to indulge in consistent practice as the only success mantra.
