Yashaswini Ghorpade eyes strong debut at World Table Tennis Team Championships

BENGALURU: Indian table tennis player Yashaswini Ghorpade enters the upcoming World Table Tennis Team Championships, which begin on April 28 in London, with growing confidence and momentum.

The 21-year-old won her first senior national title in March and then secured an impressive silver medal at the WTT Feeder Cappadocia in Turkey earlier this month.Although the World Team Championships will be much more challenging, Yashaswini is eager to make a strong impression in her team event debut at the prestigious event.Like other paddlers in both the men’s and women’s squads, she trained intensely during a six-day camp at Sports Authority of India (SAI) Bengaluru last week under the watchful eye of India’s head coach, Massimo Costantini.

With seasoned campaigners such as Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in attendance, the camp proved to be a valuable learning experience.“There was a lot to learn from the senior players, their perspectives and strategies before tournaments. The camp featured high-quality sessions and remained very focused, helping us prepare for the team competition. However, the weather in Bengaluru was quite hot, making it tough to train for longer hours,” said Yashaswini, who received her visa on Monday evening and is expected to fly out on Tuesday.

Most of the Indian squad players and the support staff are already en route to England and another five-day camp has been scheduled in Sheffield ahead of the main event.Yashaswini added that although she did not get a chance to interact much with Manika during the camp here, she has several questions lined up for the future.“I have a lot of questions to ask, but I’ve kept them for later. I didn’t want to disturb her during the practice sessions,” she said.The Manika-led women’s team is placed in Group 6 alongside Ukraine, Uganda, and Rwanda. India are favourites to top the group and advance to the round of 32, where the competition is expected to intensify.“When it comes to team events, it’s a different ball game. Every team will be tough, but the support from the bench makes a big difference compared to individual competitions because it acts as motivation, especially when the chips are down.”“If we advance, it will be very interesting because we won’t know who we’ll face next. Every team will come with its own strategy, and the coaches will decide the lineup accordingly,” she added.