Table tennis in a state of neglect in Karnataka

As a young journalist in the late 2000s, the reportage of local sporting events was a way of cutting your teeth into the profession. While the seniors battled bigger, more intellect-driven tasks, young ‘uns were allowed to naively meander before finding their voice or adhering well to the ones who had one. 

The somewhat glitz and glamour of things to come were preceded by innocent events taken far too seriously. That of course is a retrospective perspective because, at that moment, nothing mattered more. And in those days, table tennis ruled the ‘leg work’ framework of greenhorn journalists. 

From Malleswaram to Indiranagar, from Jayanagar to the Sree Kanteerava stadium, two-wheeler rides and the occasional sprint to these venues to catch intense paddle wielders was the norm. 

Sure, badminton, basketball, cricket and the others were taken on just the same but something about a barely-ventilated indoor space with 500-odd sweat-laced players racing to find their draws, service thuds and lateral-slide creaking from non-marked sneaker soles, and table tennis’ equivalent of ‘VAMOS!’, aka ‘CHO!’, shouted aloud made it all oddly palatable. 

Over time, faces became friends and these sounds (especially the comical one of plastic balls striking rubber-dipped paddles) became the consciousness of every article related to the sport. Now, you can barely hear a thing. 

Sport has rarely had it better than it does now. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, table tennis has become a what-used-to-be. There are a fair few purveyors of the sport in the State still, some even playing at the National level, but table tennis doesn’t hold the same energy anymore. 

Comparatively, there are fewer tournaments in the City and there is hardly any push from the powers that be to crack the whip on stagnation. They - the Karnataka Table Tennis Association - it would seem, have accepted that the sport isn't doing well.

When asked about it, KR Manjunath, KTTA’s secretary, was perplexingly candid. “We don’t know why the sport is not doing well. We’re unsure of how to go about this,” he tells DHoS. “Once we start getting more and more players into the sport, we will be fine. Also, see we are starting off some school events in the future and that should help the sport. But we don’t know why there has been a slide in the quality because the number of entries has not changed.”

While it was refreshing that Manjunath didn’t get defensive, his vulnerability also reeked of ignorance because save for a few promised changes in the ‘near future’, he spoke of nothing in the line of course correction. 

Enter Bona Thomas. 

Bona has been a table tennis coach for most of his life and has led the Railways team to great success. 

“The association is a problem, sure, but they’re not the only problem,” he starts off, already with a list on his mind. “One of the biggest issues is that there is no incentive to play table tennis in Karnataka. Other states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Bengal recruit people but here there are not many options so even the children who are good get told by their parents mostly to stop playing and do something else.

“Another thing I have noticed is that most people quit playing and start coaching by the time they’re in their mid-to-late 20s. There is at least consistent money in coaching at some academy.”

Former national champion Vasanth Bharadwaj added to the list of things that have gone wrong and can be remedied. Only he was a bit more effervescent about it. 

“The association needs to be disbanded!” he proclaims. “I want you to quote me on this.”

But once his early emotions dried up, he came up with suggestions that can put the game back on track in the State. 

“The first thing to be done is to identify around 1000 children below the age of 12-years-old and give them proper training,” he says. “There needs to be an academy-like structure in place so kids can have that backbone to lean on. I also think there needs to be more team championship format and more non-medallist tournaments. This way skills are improved. 

“Karnataka was among the top five table tennis-playing States in the country and now we are nowhere. Given how sport is being leveraged in the country these days, we should be doing more. Also, this sport has the lowest limitation in terms of infrastructure so you can bring in a vast number of people to play and watch. That’s one of the things I remember from when we used to play: crowds. They would come in big numbers because TT is great fun to watch, and you don’t need to tweak the rules to make it television-friendly either. It’s all just there to be marketed well.”

This is exactly what Ultimate Table Tennis has been doing - not as well as they would have liked though - since its inception in 2017. Covid-19 did hit the tournament hard, but they seem to have returned with better marketing strategies in place. It also helped that Bengaluru Smashers won the title. 

That’s the thing. How many people were aware of Bengaluru winning the title? How many people even care? Table tennis was never going to become social currency in this City, but it has its quaint legacy among the folk here, and that’s something that can be rekindled with some care.   

Archana Kamath who quit the game to pursue higher studies was the last of the big names to come up from Karnataka.  

“I remember when we started. It was just some friends playing at a Sangha. There were, I think, two tables and we had about 10-15 of us,” recalls Bona. “All of us went on to play at a higher level, and at that, there was no money, no politics, and it was all about the fun. Now, there’s no money and no fun. Everything is either business or it’s not. Sports like table tennis cannot survive like that, but if it becomes part of the culture once again.”

Even as Bona’s closing statement lingers on the call, it feels like a subjective truth because the City never had a full-throttle table tennis culture, unlike cricket or badminton. It was certainly more furbished than it is now and had an endearance to it among a lot of locals, but it was never as big as some of the more popular sports on mass appeal. 

Those in the sport would have fervently disagreed with that statement a while back. Now, they hold their tongues for the past rarely puts food on the table for the future.