VIJAYAWADA: Shailu Noor Basha, hailing from the state, bagged two more gold medals, one in south zone inter-university table tennis tournament held in Chennai and another at the All India Inter-zonal Table Tennis Championship held at Dibrugarh University, Assam. Representing the Authority of Air Inida (AAI) team, she displays tremendous skills on the table. Shailu is the one and only iternational paddler from Andhra Pradesh and only participant in national games twice after bifurcation. Now, Shailu is the 17th national ranker among young girls and 47th ranker among the women in the country.
She was selected for the scholarship of AAI in 2016. Though her family is poor, she had never taken a back step in targeting an international medal. She started her TT career when she was in Class II at the age of 7 years. Sailu's father, working on the cricket ground at Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium, Vijayawada, noticed her interest in TT and encouraged her. She started participation in big leagues when she was in Class X.
She participated in 70 state-level tournaments and bagged 10 gold, 20 silver and 10 bronze medals and she was the AP State champion, before bifurcation. Later, at the national-level, she bagged 3 gold, 2 silver, 8 bronze participating in 44 tournaments. She entered the international tournament in September, 2016, in the world junior circuit India Open by International Table Tennis Federation held at Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Her performance won accolades from top TT women players.
Though there was an international player, Karanam Spoorthy from Vijayawada, before bifurcation, Shailu is the only player who had shown her performance at the international tourneys after bifurcation. "Getting a medal in the international tournament for India is my aim and will practise my level best for that," said Shailu Noor Basha. "Shailu is a very good player but she needs the government support for a professional fitness trainer and academy coaching to achieve her target," said Y. Damodar, her coach. Shailu's sister Nazeerabi Noor Basha, 15, is also a TT national bronze medallist in the cadet event. "I am not able to support my daughter as we are not financially sound," said Kasim Noor Basha, father of Sailu.
