Naihati, a new table tennis hub

“Even when you take one small step, good things start happening if you have the right intention and are willing to work for it,” says Mihir Ghosh. For the 63-year table tennis coach, it is an aphorism.

- Dhiman Sarkar

UNEARTHING CHAMPIONS - A TOWN IN WEST BENGAL 

It is also the most plausible explanation Ghosh has for the miracle in Hangzhou when Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee beat world champions Cheng Meng and Wang Yidi in the quarter-final to assure India their first medal in women’s table tennis in the 72-year history of the Asian Games. Ranked No. 2 in the world and seeded second in the Asian Games, the Chinese pair lost 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9 on Saturday. The pair had not dropped a game till the quarter-finals.

“If they play again, most probably the Chinese will win. But sometimes, fates align to reward your dedication, your effort” says Ghosh, some 20 years after teaching the Mukherjees to hold a paddle. “Sutirtha came first, Ayhika a few months later.”

From then to a podium finish in a sport China has a stranglehold on, it has been some journey. One with interruptions for Sutirtha, who was suspended for age-fudging in 2015 and had her government funding stopped after the Tokyo Olympics, and a change in rubber in 2009 that transformed Ayhika from an early loser in tournaments to a champion. In 42 years of coaching, part of which overlapped with his career as a player from Bengal who would cause the odd upset at national championships and the National Games, Ghosh says he must have trained “at least a thousand, around 25 of whom have won national titles and played for India.” But what makes Sutirtha and Ayhika special is that “even for five minutes you can’t take them away from the table.”