My dream is to play for India at the Olympics: Preyesh

Commenting on it, one of the Tamil Nadu coaches Ramnath Prasad said, “He will break into the senior set-up in another five to six years. He has already represented the country at junior level and bagged medals in Maldives, Japan and Thailand. I see him as a potential candidate to play at the Olympics. Being a left hander helps in having a better ball control.” Preyesh, who embarked his ping pong journey at a tender age of seven, was inspired to take up the sport after witnessing his father be a part of office level matches.

The 11-year-old is currently under the tutelage of Chandrasekhar, a former Arjuna awardee and Andrews. He works under the trio of Ramnath, Subin and Sundar while on state duty, representing Tamil Nadu. He snapped up a tally of 630 points in this calendar year and finished on top of the Cadet Boys rankings released by the Table Tennis Federation of India. Preyesh, who idolises Swedish legend Jan-Ove Waldner, looks up to the ‘Mozart of table tennis’ for his services, blocks and attacks. 

“Just like how cricketers idolise Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, I follow him closely to enhance my gameplay,” said Preyesh speaking on his adulation for the Swede. The southpaw spends almost one-fourth of the day preparing for his upcoming assignments. 

When queried about his training regime, he said, “I practise for about five hours a day with a majority of it coming in the evenings between 4pm and 8pm.”