Calling Tamil Nadu “the China of Indian TT”, Olympian S. Raman said the State has produced several paddlers in both the men and women sections at the National and International level, and that an Olympic medal for India and Tamil Nadu is not a dream anymore.
“To help my ward(s) win an Olympic medal is the ultimate goal,” said the 52-year-old at a function organised by Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association (TNTTA) at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Sunday to felicitate him for winning the Dronacharya Award.
Raman said that he did his best both as a player and a coach.
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He credited Olympian G. Sathiyan for him getting the prestigious award.
“It is due to the efforts of my players — and, importantly, due to the meritorious performance of Sathiyan — that I have been able to get the Dronacharya award,” he said.
Raman, a four-time National men’s singles champion thanked all his coaches: V. Ramachandran (ICF), Rao brothers (Srinivasa Rao & Muralidhara Rao), V. Chandrasekar, and his wife B. Bhuvaneswari.
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“When I started out [as a coach] I wanted to do what I couldn’t achieve as a player. The bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia by the Indian men’s team was a great moment for us,” he said.