Call for better infrastructure and accessibility

Table tennis stars Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan, along with parathlete Mariyappan Thangavelu, and former tennis star Ramesh Krishnan list out factors needed to be addressed to improve India’s chances of Bridging the

Olympic/paralympic Gap.

The Tokyo Olympics is over, and the euphoria generated by India’s best haul of seven medals at the Games — a gold, two silver and four bronze — is beginning to fade away. Before the country’s largest ever contingent of 127 athletes left for Tokyo, there was talk of a double-digit medal tally. That didn’t happen, and India’s performance placed it 4■th among the 93 medal-winning nations. How could India have performed better? Indian table tennis veteran Sharath Kamal, at 39, made his fourth Olympics and feels better infrastructure is the key to improving India’s medal tally. “When you look at table tennis at the grassroots level, every school, office, or college has a table tennis table. As a kid, you would have tried your hand at table tennis. Infrastructure is a major contributor to the success of strong sporting nations,” Sharath said during a panel discussion ‘Bridging the Olympic/paralympic Gap’ at Sportstar’s South Sports Conclave.

Sharath’s compatriot G. Sathiyan feels India needs to ensure a steady flow of players for an Olympic medal haul in table tennis. “India is seen as a threat to most of the top countries. Once we were in the Chinese national training hall, and there was a poster put up during the Olympic Games that said ‘Biggest threat to China’, and there was my face and Sharath’s face right on the wall of the training centre,” Sathiyan said with a smile.

Better access

Indian tennis star Ramesh Krishnan thinks better accessibility is the key to augmenting India’s performance in tennis. “The centre of tennis has gravitated to Europe, so Europeans have a very big advantage. The Australians and Americans are struggling, and so Indians are also struggling.

“Even within India, if you want to go to Delhi or Mumbai, it is a long distance, it is almost a continent by itself. For a kid to come through, the travel and the competition are not very affordable.”

Mariyappan Thangavelu, who had won gold in the T63 high jump at the 2016 Paralympics, won silver in Tokyo. The parathlete reckons a better support staff will help parathletes win more medals at the quadrennial Games. “We need good coaches, physios and nutritionists. Planning out a daily training regimen [is the key],” Mariyappan said.

B. VELANKANNI RAJ Sharath Kamal makes a point as Ramesh Krishnan, moderator K. Keerthivasan, G. Sathiyan and Mariyappan Thangavelu listen in during a panel discussion on Bridging the Olympic/paralympic Gap.