Mumbai: Shortly after the Indian teams’ early exit from the World Team Table Tennis Championships in May, Massimo Costantini had hoped four months would be enough time to work toward a bounce back at the Asian Games.
A little over a month before the continental event, Indian TT again finds itself in a hole off the table, let alone plotting a bounce back.
With the Table Tennis Federation of India’s (TTFI) recognition suspended by the Sports Ministry on Wednesday, Costantini’s reappointment as the foreign coach, and the squad’s preparation plans for the Asian Games, appear to be in limbo.
It is learnt that the 68-year-old Italian, who is in Malmo, Sweden with the Indian players at the ongoing Europe Smash and was set to travel to India afterward for the Asian Games tune-up, has now been asked to return to Italy.
The former Olympian’s appointment and the Asian Games preparation plans charted since March will likely have to be handled by the ad-hoc committee, which the ministry has asked the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to put in place to oversee TTFI’s affairs.
Costantini’s contract as Indian TT’s foreign coach ended after the Team Worlds in May. He returned to Italy after having “positive talks” with TTFI and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) regarding his reappointment. In a chat with HT then, he said he hoped the formalities would be completed quickly, “so that I can get back to the job” ahead of the Asian Games. The same month, TTFI invited applications for the post of “foreign coach/expert”.
{{/usCountry}}Costantini’s contract as Indian TT’s foreign coach ended after the Team Worlds in May. He returned to Italy after having “positive talks” with TTFI and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) regarding his reappointment. In a chat with HT then, he said he hoped the formalities would be completed quickly, “so that I can get back to the job” ahead of the Asian Games. The same month, TTFI invited applications for the post of “foreign coach/expert”.
{{/usCountry}}Costantini’s name, as “foreign expert,” was part of India’s coaching and support staff list for the Commonwealth TT Championships, held from July 27 to August 2 in New Delhi, where Indians swept all but one gold medal on offer.
It is learnt that the TTFI asked Costantini to travel for the Europe Smash, where most of India’s leading players competed in the prestigious tournament currently ongoing. He was also asked to travel from Sweden to India, as part of the preparation plans for the Asian Games starting September 17. His return to India is on hold for now.
It is also learnt that Costantini laid out the preparation roadmap for the Asian Games to the federation in March. Ahead of any multi-sport or major team events, Indian players usually assemble for a camp or training block in India or overseas under the Italian’s supervision. It remains to be seen how much, and for how long, that is impacted with Costantini asked to return home.
India’s Asian Games squad, though, is unlikely to be affected since the list of selected players was already handed over to the IOA.
The faction-hit federation was suspended by the ministry citing governance lapses, failure to hold elections on time and selection issues. Manika Batra, one of the country’s leading paddlers, questioned the federation and its selection policy upon her exclusion from the Asian Games squad in June.
The TTFI, headed by Meghna Ahlawat, who is the wife of its former president Dushyant Chautala, urged the ministry on Thursday to reconsider the suspension.