The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : Full-time TT academy at Indore

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Saturday, Jan 22, 2011
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Full-time TT academy at Indore

KOLKATA: The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), giving youth development top priority, has lined up a host of programmes to nurture talent.

A full-time academy in Indore in April will be the first step in this regard. The National federation is also planning to register coaches all over the country and reward the successful ones with a series of incentives.

“We will be opening the first dedicated academy for cadet, sub-junior and junior categories at Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium on April 1 with the aim of creating a talent pool that will feed our National teams in the future,” TTFI secretary-general Dhanraj Choudhary told The Hindu.

“It was necessary to streamline the youth development process and the academy in Indore will be the first of its kind in a series of such academies planned across the country,” he added.

Apart from having players from different States in the age group of 12 to 18, the academy will also allow players from the neighbouring countries to train, said Choudhary.

The TTFI is also keen to improve the standard of the coaches. “Most of the coaches are not aware of the modern aspects of training. The academy in Indore will also have qualified foreign and Indian instructors training our coaches,” he said.

The International Table Tennis Federation will be supporting the academy by sending quality instructors and coaches, and will also provide grants to run the academy.

“The TTFI is putting final touches to a unified coach registration process to make the coaching system in the country more efficient,” said Chaudhury. “The successful coaches will be given special incentives for their performance.”

The TTFI, satisfied with the methods of noted Italian coach Massimo Costantini and having received positive feedback from the players, has proposed to extend his contract till the 2012 London Olympics.

“After getting confirmation from the coach himself, we have forwarded the proposal to extend his contract to the Sports Authority of India, the appointing authority,” he said . — Principal Correspondent

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