Telangana paddlers Tanay, Avanthika making it big

Both spend five to six hours a day training at the academy while they will sweat it out close to eight hours on the days when they have holidays from school.

Hyderabad: For 11-year-old Tanay Kumar and his nine-year-old sister Avanthika, spending over five hours training at the Ping Pong SPARS Table Tennis Academy in Yapral is the best part of their day. Both of them, as they say, look forward to training as it allows them to forget their struggle and focus on what they love.

Tanay’s father Daupati Saidul works as a watchman in the same building downstairs while his mother Maheshwari works as a domestic help in Yapral. They struggle to make both ends meet. However, Tanay is confident of a bright future through the game. Eight months into his training, Tanay has made rapid strides.

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Both spend five to six hours a day training at the academy while they will sweat it out close to eight hours on the days when they have holidays from school. Ashish Chakravarthy, who runs the academy and provides them free coaching and takes care of their expenses for the same, recalled his stint with the game.

“Their story is very interesting. Their father works as a watchman in this building. The boy Tanay was standing outside the door and watching the game one day. We asked him whether he was interested in playing TT. He said yes. Earlier, he used to play football but was bullied by elders. After eight months of training he is one of the best players from the academy,” Ashish said.

However, it was his sister Avanthika, who looked more promising to Ashish. Avanthika started training six months ago. She used to bring food to his brother Tanay and Ashish encouraged her to take up the game. “She has no fear and that is her great asset. She has the knack for picking things fast. She will go a long way,” he added. Tanay is studying in Class VI while Avanthika is in Class V at the St Thomas SPG High School.

“I want to become a good TT player to represent the country. My dream is to win medals for India,” said Tanay when asked about his dream. Avanthika too wants to become an Indian player in the future. Meanwhile, coaches Ritwick Das and Riju Ghosh predict a bright future for both because of the passion they have.

“Tanay still has some inhibitions since he has come from a poor background. So he still needs to open up to see his full potential. But Avanthika is different. She doesn’t have fear and that is a very good trait to become a champion player,” said Ritwick.

After Tanay and Avanthika started playing table tennis, her youngest sister Ritika, who is eight years old, also joined them.