Hyderabad: When his fellow paddlers are busy training and adjusting their techniques for one last time before the next month's Tokyo Olympic Games, India's fifth-ranked men's paddler Harmeet Desai is preparing himself in Germany in the shadow of Olympic broadcast for the next big events.
Harmeet, who hails from Surat, is the defending champion in Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships. In 2019, he defeated G Sathiyan in an exhausting final at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack.
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The Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who missed the Olympic berth by a whisker for being ranked outside the top seventy, at 74, doesn't want to think too much about the missed opportunity. Instead, the 27-year-old Arjuna Award recipient wishes "all the best" to his compatriots - Sathiyan, Manika Batra, veteran Sharath Kamal and Sutirtha Mukherjee - and says he wants to see them winning medals in Tokyo, while sharing details about his training in Germany and future goal in an exclusive WhatsApp chat with Etv Bharat Sports Journalist Sudipta Biswas.
Excerpts...
Q: How many tournaments you have played in the last Olympic cycle?
Harmeet Desai: I played around 15-20 international tournaments every year from 2017-2020.
Q: Who sponsored your training and participation in competitions?
Harmeet: My international training, travelling and participation in competitions are fully sponsored by the Sports Authority of Gujarat. But competition expenses are sometimes borne by Sports Authority of India as well. I am supported by both. I am really grateful to them. I am training in Germany.
Q: From when Sports Authority of Gujarat started sponsoring you?
Harmeet: Since 2010, they have been sponsoring me.
Q: Four paddlers are going to participate in the Olympics from India. Why more Indian paddlers could not make it to the Olympic Games?
Harmeet: It is a great achievement that four paddlers have qualified for the Olympics from our country. I don't see any issue with Indian table tennis at this moment. It is a matter of pride. It proves that Indian table tennis is progressing.
Q: What message would you like to convey to your Olympics-bound compatriots?
Harmeet: I wish them all the best and wish them success. If someone wins a medal in Tokyo, the sport will become popular in India just as badminton became after Saina's (Saina Nehwal) Olympic medal in 2012.
Q: Do you feel some of the paddlers are victims of discriminatory treatment?
Harmeet: I can't comment on what kind of treatment other players get, but I haven't faced any discrimination.
Q: Right now 10 paddlers are on the Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS) list. Four Olympics-bound paddlers are in the New TOPs List, while six in the TOPS Developmental Group, including you. Don't you feel more paddlers need to be inducted into the TOPs as many of the paddlers don't have sponsors and they spend from their own pockets to improve their world rankings?
Harmeet: I am not aware of the selection criteria for TOPS. Only the federation (TTFI) will be able to comment on the matter.
Q: Where are you employed right now?
Harmeet: I am currently employed at ONGC along with 10 other paddlers.
Q: Are you getting any grant from TOPs?
Harmeet: Yes, right now I am getting OPA (out of pocket allowance) INR 25,000 every month.
Q: Total how much you spent to maintain everything during the last Olympic cycle?
Harmeet: I don't remember the exact figure.
Q: Where are you training in Germany?
Harmeet: I am practicing at TTF Ochsenhausen in Biberach, Baden-Württemberg.
Q: When did you start training in Germany?