Shillong, April 21: Lack of equipment, training and focus on investing on players are hurdles fir the improvement of table tennis in Meghalaya.
At a press conference on Thursday, at SAI Indoor Stadium, NEHU, while the players did not want to blame anyone and painted a rosy picture of table tennis in the state, the coach Kamesh Gareri said the Meghalaya table tennis should be player-driven and not administration-driven.
Though Meghalaya hosted the ongoing 83rd Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships, it could not go to the knockout stage in both the men’s and women’s team events.
According to the coach, training for just three months will not be sufficient as the players have to complete with national and international players.
He said Meghalaya does not have proper tables for practice and mat for training. Players are not getting any exposure and the players are not provided with any incentives and rewards.
“We didn’t even know that we are taking part in this event as we came to know only 40 days back, we were not even sure if Shillong would be hosting this tournament or not. That was the situation,” the coach added
More equipment and monetary support should be provided. We have the potential and with the proper investment, the sporting event can grow, he said.
The coach said collective support of the parents and school authorities is the need of the hour.
Though there are two coaches, only one is taking care of the team and the whereabouts of the second one is not known.
