Yashaswini keen to build on WTT success at world stage

Yashaswini Ghorpade is on a roll. Out of the seven World Table Tennis Youth Contender events, the talented teenager has won four gold, three silver and three bronze medals in the last two months.

“Happy but not satisfied,” the paddler told DH upon her return to the city after hopping across countries in Europe and Africa for tournaments.

Born in Belagavi, the Bengaluru girl – competing in both the under-17 and U-19 girls’ singles categories – began her impressive run on a rather disappointing note by losing in the quarterfinals and round of 16 respectively in the first event she participated at Varazdin, Croatia.

Leaving the jittery start behind, she then went on to clinch silver (U-17) and bronze (U-19) in Otocec, Slovenia before claiming the U-17 gold and the U-19 silver in Tunis, Tunisia.

Keeping up with the momentum, Yashaswini then went on to clinch two golds in Oman, Muscat, finished first again in Senec, Slovakia and ended with a silver and bronze in Szombathely, Hungary this week.

The WTT youth calendar was introduced this year by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), which will have around 30 tournaments annually to encourage juniors and provide them with international exposure during their developmental years.

“It felt good to win but I really wanted to do well in Lisbon (Portugal) as it was a bigger tournament. Perhaps the constant travel with Covid-19 protocols including bio bubbles and getting tested every alternate day took a toll on me physically and mentally,” said Yashaswini about her qualifying round exit in the WTT golden series event.

The teenager, apart from gaining invaluable experience, has now risen to number five (U-17) and seven (U-19) in the world rankings following her spoils at these tournaments.

Her shy and quiet off-court demeanour is in contrast to the fighting spirit Yashu, as she is affectionately called, displays while playing. “I have become more confident. All I want is to work harder to improve. The grind makes me happy.”

As sporting action is getting back to normal, the first PUC Jain University student had to adapt to the new sporting normal of preparing for competitions. Fitness workout on the terrace, meditation classes and match analysis through online platforms and in and out of actual practice with sparring partners after waiting anxiously for lockdowns to be lifted have become the norm for Yashaswini since March 2020.

Under coach Anshuman Roy at the SKIES academy — based in the BBMP complex near Yediyur lake, Basavanagudi — she began playing when parents Deepak Ghorpade, an employee at a private firm, and mother Geeta, a homemaker, wanted to keep their five-year-old daughter away from television and cartoons.

“Her performance was commendable given the fact that she was competing in a new age category for the first time after a break of close to two years due to the pandemic. Her backhand and mental toughness are the strengths whereas we now need to focus on her physical fitness and the forehand side that is comparatively weaker,” observes Roy.

Though Yashaswini is sponsored by the Airports Authority of India and Khelo India Scheme, funding the young paddlers’ table tennis dreams is a constant struggle. While a few tournaments are funded by the TTFI and SAI, the expenses for the rest are shelled out from the parents’ pockets.

“It is essential for us to constantly compete to improve her world ranking to ensure entries to World Championships and others. We are looking out for more sponsors but table tennis doesn’t attract the kind of attention like a few others sports enjoy. She won the U-15 world championships almost two years ago but we haven’t received even an acknowledgment from the State government or the sports minister. Around Rs 5-6 lakh of sponsorship per year is needed to help realise her potential going forward,” said Roy.

Yashaswini for Youth Worlds

Without a world ranking two months ago, Yashaswini has now risen to world no. 5 (u-17) and no.7 (u-19) after the recent success. This improvement in rankings put her in the u-19 Indian team for the ITTF World Youth Championships to be held in Portugal from 2-8 December. She is most likely to feature in the u-19 singles category as well, a confirmation of which is awaited.

Yashaswini's feats

Twin titles at Sub-junior Nationals (Chandigarh, Dec 2018)

Part of the Indian team that won four gold medals at the Bahrain open (2019).

As the only Indian in the squad, she guided the Asian team to bronze at the World Cadet Challenge in Poland (2019).

Clinched the UTT West Zone National-ranking singles title (Thane, 2019).

Claimed a silver in the u-19 girls' singles category at the North Zone National Ranking TT Championship (Panchakula, 2021)

Won four golds, three silvers and three bronze medals at five different WTT contender events (2021).

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