‘Foreign coach to attend 45 days residential TT camp’

IMPHAL, October 15: The Manipur Table Tennis Association will be providing a 45 days residential camp under a foreign coach for 7 to 12 years old players of the state at the DM college campus Indoor Stadium, said MTTA president today.

Speaking to media persons, MTTA president Dr Kh Loken said the camp will be held either in April or May next year.

In the absence of any good coach, the state has failed to produce any national ranking player since 1997.

He continued that even though the MTTA has not finalised who the coach would be, in all likelihood it would be from either China or South Korea or some other South Asian country.

He continued that the MTTA had appealed the Table Tennis Federation of India to send foreign coaches to the state to develop the game in the state which was responded positively by the national federation.

The national federation had also communicated to the MTTA to choose the right time after which the MTTA has decided that the best time would be April-May next year.

He continued that the expenses for the foreign coach would be divided on a 50-50 basis between the state association and the national federation, he said.

In 1985, Amery Salam from the state lifted the national Sub-junior championship to become the top ranking player of the country in the category, he said.

The state had also produced seven junior players who made it to the rankings in the Indian Junior category uptill 1996, since then there has been no national ranking player from the state, he said.

There is only one player from the state in the senior rankings of the country at present. He added that however the player, L Sachin who is ranked 20th in the national ranking is playing for Tamil Nadu.

The MTTA has been undergoing a special coaching every Sunday at the DM College campus Indoor Stadium with the aim to find new talents since last month.

He continued that the Sunday Special Coaching which has one NIS coach and few other senior players to coach the players will be continued throughout the year.

Around 40 young players are participating the coaching at present, he continued.

While appealing to the state Sports department to appoint coaches to develop the game in the state, he continued that the MTTA has also decided to choose certain senior players outside the state to undergo trainings on the latest coaching trends.

The MTTA is also planning to host a East Zone National TT championship next year, he said.

He has further appealed to all youth clubs to send their players to attend the Sunday special coaching programme.

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