New Delhi, May 20: Italy’s Massimo Costantini is back in India to coach the national table tennis team for a third time and his main goal is to put the country at par with the sport’s traditional powerhouses China and Japan.
Costantini has been handed charge of the squad for two years with a contract extension clause for another couple of years.
India had won a then record five medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi in his first stint before he returned to coach the country to an unprecedented two medals at the 2018 Asian Games, ending a 60-year drought.
Following the team’s historic outing in Jakarta, the Italian joined the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) as its High Performance Manager before arriving in India last week, a country he calls second home, for “unfinished business”. Prior to his return, India did not have a head coach for six long years.
PREPARATION PLAN
His immediate task is to prepare the men and women squads for the Paris Olympics, where India has qualified for the team events for the first time.
“I am here for unfinished business. I have always seen big potential in India to become a powerhouse in table tennis. And I like to be someone that can contribute to the success. “We have done well in the previous two tenures. Time will tell if we can do even better. So even better means to aspire something big in the Olympics. And that is the biggest motivation.
“Then India always is my second place to check, to see the players performing internationally. Always a special attraction…,” Costantini told PTI in an interview on Monday.
Enough kids
playing TT
Costantini also feels that there is no shortage of players in India and therefore, a better structure is needed to get the best out of them.
Sharath, who will be featuring in his fifth and final Olympics, is expected to retire after the Games, leaving a massive void. However, the Italian coach is not overly worried. “There are four players in top 100. This is thanks to the volume of the players available.
“So I don’t think it would be a big problem, but we need champions. Sharath is a champion, he was a champion. Every player in India wants to emulate him for his behaviour, for his humbleness and many good things.” (PTI)
