The table tennis potential Monday, January 23, 2012 by Aamir Bilal The Russians must be cursing the day when their rulers banned the sport of table tennis, nicknamed Ping Pong or “Gossima”, in the belief that playing the game had an adverse effect on players’ eyesight. Contrary to Russian beliefs, the Chinese well understood the benefits of the fast-paced exciting game that took birth in England in the 1880s, but achieved its zenith in the highlands. Most of us have had the experience of playing table tennis at home or school by placing a row of books along the center of a table or a bench as a net with two more books serving as rackets to hit the ball. The early rackets were often pieces of parchment stretched upon a frame, and the sound generated during the game gave it a nick name of “wiff-waff”. London hosted the first table tennis world championship in 1927 and the game was introduced to Asian Games in Tokyo in 1958. Organised table tennis in Pakistan began in ‘50s and the Pakistan Table Tennis Federation was formed in 1951 in Lahore that held the first National Championship at Burt Institute, Lahore. Initially the game was considered slow and a post-dinner entertainment by the elites. In the 1950s, the introduction of sponge layer under the rubber sheet of the bat and use of specialised speed glues changed the game dramatically, giving greater spin and speed to the game. Pakistan produced some outstanding table tennis players like Arif Nakhudaw and Nazo sisters in the past, but the game witnessed consistent decline in Pakistan when PIA and commercial banks took a back seat in supporting the game due to reasons better known to them. Pakistan now has a few well-known table tennis players that include Asim Qureshi a 43 years old national champion, Ali Faisal, Yasir Iqbal, Ghalia Mohsin, Sadia Falak Shair, Raheela Anjum and Shabnam Bilal. According to an estimate, some 900 million people watch and play this absorbing sport which is striving hard to survive in Pakistan because of the inability and non professional approach of the federation, which failed to capitalise on good offers like free supply of equipment and coaching assistance from a leading Indian firm STAG in Sept 2006, said Afsheen Akhtar Abassi, a leading university table tennis player who is now employed at Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad. Maliha Khursheed, Pakistan’s national junior champion and an emerging table tennis star, is also displeased with PTTF’s attitude. She says that instead of improving marketing and promotional strategies, the federation has been demanding money from players to send them abroad for international competitions. However, Afsheen Akhtar had a different stance. Instead of wasting her time in finding clearance from the officials, she carved her own destiny and managed to secure a place in an important course-cum-seminar on “table tennis coaches from developing countries” sponsored by Academy for International Business Officials (AIOB), Ministry of Commerce in China. Twenty other participants from Mongolia, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Cambodia, India, Jamaica, Burundi, Zambia, Cameron and Rwanda attended the course. Afsheen has won various women titles at school, college and university level. She was awarded first position in PSB youth summer championship in 2010. She represented Islamabad as team captain in 48th national table tennis championship. She remains the coach of IIUI women table tennis team. Afsheen is very serious in promoting the sport among girls of all ages not just as a competitive sport, but also as a tool of peace and social and economic empowerment for them. While talking about the limitations and problems faced by the Pakistani women players, she mentioned the lack of safe playing areas and non-availability of reliable and trustworthy coaches under whom girls can play the game with devotion. She said that in Rawalpindi- Islamabad the game can only be played at Liaqat Bagh, ZTBL and Iqbal Hall whereas doors of Hamidi Hall remain closed for table tennis. Afsheen said that her visit to China was a great learning curve where table tennis has a status of religion. The Chinese focus very hard on improving personal skills and physical fitness, which improves players’ consistency, accuracy, power and hit ratio. She said that the Chinese team has more depth than any other team in the world as most of the players spend six to seven hours in rigorous training. The training includes both regular practice with partner and multi-ball training with coach and robot. She said that the Chinese national team meets at least once a week with sport psychologist to improve their mental fitness. The tactical support staff develops the operational strategy for individual players. In China, the children are trained in both table tennis and badminton when they are between 5 and 12. They go for specialisation in either sport from age 12 onwards. Afsheen concluded by saying that table Tennis needs to be revived in school and colleges. “Our players must improve offensive side of the game and master the art of corkspin and sidespin as it is employed in offensive rally strokes, often from greater distance, as an adjunct to topspin or backspin,” she said. She said that if given an opportunity she would impart her knowledge to all those girls who like to take up the game seriously. The table tennis Federation must focus on promoting the sport at grass roots and facilitate and use qualified women coaches like Afsheen Akhtar who have the passion to promote the game.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 07:44:50 +0000
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