Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath, two of the brightest youngsters in Indian table tennis, have received a shot in the arm in the form of the International Table Tennis Federation’s (ITTF’s) year-long scholarship under the Youth Olympic Support programme.
The scholarship will mean Thakkar and Archana, the top ranked players in the U-17 boys’ and U-20 girls’ categories, will get additional funding and exposure for the coming year leading into the Youth Olympic Games, to be played in Buenos Aires, Argentina next year.
“The scholarship will not only help the two promising paddlers but will also be a morale-booster for all young players in the country. It also proves that Indian table tennis is making rapid strides on the global map,” M.P. Singh, secretary general of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) told The Hindu on Friday, the penultimate day of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (Central Zone) table tennis championship.
The scholarship, if utilised properly, will also help Thakkar and Kamath improve their world ranking. Thakkar is placed at No. 37 in the U-18 world rankings’ list while Archana is sitting at No. 25 in the girls’ charts.
Buoyed by the additional incentive, Thakkar has started the season on a strong note, winning the junior boys’, making it to the youth boys’ final while also making it to the men’s quarterfinals in the season-opening zonal tournament here.
The results (Junior): Girls: Final: Yashini Sivashankar (TN) bt Prapti Sen (WB) 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 12-10, 8-11,11-7, 11-4.
Semifinals: Prapti bt Kushi Viswanath (Kar) 8-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-7; Yashini bt Manushree Patil (Mah) 5-11, 11-2, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6.
Boys: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Snehit Suravajjula (TS) 11-8, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8. Semifinals: Suravajjula bt Anukram Jain (PSPB) 12-10, 11-4, 11-2, 9-11, 10-12, 11-2; Thakkar bt Shubh Goel (Del) 11-6, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7.
