India Open will be great platform for youngsters: Sharath

The India Open which offers total prize money of $120,000 is the country’s only World Tour event and it promises to a grand spectacle with top players from across the world including World No. 5 Dimitrij Samsonav of Germany and World No 8. Vladimir Samsonav of Belarus plying their trade against the best of the Indian players. 

While the presence of top stars in the tournament signifies the importance of the tournament in the international circuit, all eyes would certainly be glued on the Indian contingent. The Indian table tennis scenario is at all time high and for the first time since 1970 three Indian players, two men Sharath Kamal (world no. 59) and Soumyajit Ghosh (world no. 78) and the lone woman in Manika Batra (world no.91) are in top 100. 

And only that, in 2016 Rio Olympics Indian table tennis also saw four Olympic representations something that happened only in 1992 before this. Talking about the importance of the tournament, seven times national champion, Sharath Kamal said, “It is great that Olympics medalists are coming to India and when you watch them live, you get a sense of how they prepare and also it’s great for the young players to get to know their patience levels. The tournament can be a good platform for youngsters to watch and learn from close quarters.” 

Vladimir Samsonav, who holds the distinction winning the highest number of ITTF Pro Tour titles (26) has also spoken highly about the Indian players and believes they have a lot of potential. “I know that there are many strong players in India, many who are up for a big surprise, like G. Sathiyan in Belgium last year. I know Achanta Kamal for many years, great player and good friend,” Samsonav said. The tournament is organised by 11Even Sports Pvt Ltd under the auspices of TTFI at the Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi. 

ESPL is headed by Vita Dani, the co-owner of Chennaiyin FC and former Indian paddler and Arjuna Awardee Kamlesh Mehta. “The India Open offers an excellent opportunity to position India on the global table tennis map. 11Even Sports’ goal is to promote table tennis in the country and we believe the India Open will be a big step in achieving that goal,” Dani said.