After a year of setbacks, Sutirtha Mukherjee on comeback trail

Earlier this week, the Bengal paddler signed off as a finalist at the Nationals in Jammu.

In the 18 months after becoming an Olympian at Tokyo, Sutirtha Mukherjee has seen her coach taken to court by her team mate over allegations of match-fixing, her financial support through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) cut off leading to participation in tournaments drying up, her domestic and world rankings nosedive, her table tennis suffer and performances slump.

Sutirtha Mukherjee (Twitter)

Over the last month, however, Sutirtha is finally starting to see some light at the end of a seemingly long and dark tunnel. Earlier this week, the Bengal paddler signed off as a finalist at the Nationals in Jammu. She lost to holder Sreeja Akula in the singles final but got there after two consecutive years of crashing out in the pre-quarters. Before that at the WTT Star Contender Goa, Sutirtha reached the Round of 16 as a qualifier after stunning world No. 18 Jia Nan Yuan for her best outing in the elite Contender series. Hours after the Nationals, Sutirtha dashed off to Antalya for a WTT Feeder event, still travelling out of her own pocket although with a more upbeat mind.

“My confidence is high now," she said over phone from Antalya. “I feel like I’m getting back on track.”

The wheels appeared to have come off on that track after the Tokyo Games in 2021. She entered the second round in singles there and returned to her personal coach Soumyadeep Roy, who was also India's national coach then, embroiled in a court case by Manika Batra for allegedly asking her to throw the Olympic qualifying match against Sutirtha for India to get two singles spots in Tokyo. It would soon turn into a legal battle, a disbanded national federation, a coach fighting “match-fixing” charges and a player dragged into the mess.

“That phase was a big distraction," Sutirtha said. "I'm really close to Roy da; he is my coach, my friend, and we share everything with each other. I personally felt extremely bad seeing him go through all that. It hurt me. But even then, he did not stop supporting me and backing me. He said, ‘You have to play well, you have to prove yourself’. Gradually, we got that out of our minds and got out of that.”

Sutirtha, though, was unable to pull herself out of a prolonged performance rut. Continuing her training with Roy and Poulomi Ghatak at their academy in Jadavpur, Sutirtha struggled to convert those hours of practice into results of note. “Khel hi nahi pa rahi thi (I wasn’t able to play my game). I was training hard, but I would often get tensed in matches. I don’t know kya ho raha tha.”

Worse, the TOPS funding she received pre-Tokyo stopped, which resulted in Sutirtha grappling to even play in tournaments. The Naihati-born paddler, residing in a rented flat in Jadavpur with her mother, did not have the means to frequently travel abroad on her own. “I think I played just 3-4 international tournaments the whole of last year. My financial background isn’t strong, and so everything became difficult.”

Her WTT rankings plummeted into the low three figures and domestically, the two-time national champion fell out of the top eight. Sutirtha wasn’t even considered for last year’s CWG or the World Team TT Championship, while the likes of Sreeja and Diya Chitale got a look-in. As crushed as she was, a modest Sutirtha did not even expect to be picked for those events then.

“The others were doing well, while my international ranking had dropped,” Sutirtha said. “Of course, I was very disappointed. I have been part of India teams for a while, and then to suddenly be out of contention was tough. But I told myself that the only way you can get back is by performing.”

It needed a lot of self-talk, apart from words of wisdom and motivation from her coaches and parents, to keep her going through a period where she felt her career was going nowhere. "I felt really low. I was extremely upset with myself and the fact that I wasn’t able to perform. I would often speak to Roy da, to myself, trying to understand what was happening to me.

“But even then, I did not stop practicing. I went back to the drawing board, saw some of my matches and the mistakes I was making. And I knew deep down that if I continue doing the right things and work hard, I can bounce back. Wapas aana hai (I have to come back).”

The National Games in September last year, where she won the singles title beating Manika and Sreeja en route, was a significant step in that before the WTT Goa and Nationals show. Back up to second in the national rankings and 115th in the WTT charts, Sutirtha is in a much better space now. She has arrived there going past a few major obstacles while some still remain, just as she seems to like it.

“My entire life has been more of a struggle, so struggle karke khelna toh mujhe acha lagta hai," Sutirtha chuckled. “If you do well after overcoming challenges, it makes you feel more satisfied.”