This Bengaluru girl may be young but her talent in table tennis is already taking her places
Archana Kamath
She may be barely 15 years old, but this Bengaluru girl has been jet-setting across the globe thanks to her incredible talent with the paddle. We’re talking about table tennis player Archana Kamath who has just returned from France after an action-packed tournament. Born to Anuradha and Girish Kamath, both ophthalmologists, it was on a casual family trip to Mangaluru that Bengaluru youngster Archana Kamath had her first encounter with table tennis. That was about seven years ago, when she was all of nine years old. “We were visiting my uncle’s family and they had a table in their house. It was actually my brother who was more interested in the sport, but I tried it too. On returning to Bengaluru I would play it every now and then and slowly it became an obsession. I stuck to it even after my brother grew out of it,” reveals the young girl, who was taking classes in classical music and Bharatnatyam before table tennis happened. “I did like music and dance, but not as much as TT,” she clarifies. Since then, she has won innumerable tournaments, made headlines across the country and secured her place in the list of top table tennis players to watch out for.
Now gearing up for the Senior Nationals and World Junior Circuit Finals in January, Archana tells us that her focus is also on academics at the moment. “I’ve only just returned from France and I’ve missed out on so much, so I’m busy trying to catch up with my classmates,” shares the young girl, who has won bronze and silver medals in singles and team events at International-level tournaments in Italy, Belgium and Croatia. “Meeting new people and visiting new countries does appeal to me to a certain extent, but it’s the game that keeps me going,” she says.
A student of Poorna Prajna School in Sadashivanagar, balancing academics and her passion is no easy feat but Archana shares that her teachers are very understanding and are open to giving her lessons whenever she needs them. “Not just my teachers, but my parents have also supported me throughout. My mum has given up her practice, that she had along with my father, to accompany me on my tours. And yet, there is no pressure. They always urge me to enjoy myself and not think about the results. And that’s what I do. From training to playing tournaments, I enjoy every minute of it,” adds Archana, a devout follower of Swami Vivekananda. Described by her mother, Anuradha, as a quiet child, some of Archana’s idols include Saina Nehwal and Roger Federer. She is soon going to be training under Deckline Litao, who happens to be Nehwal’s trainer too.
“It was when she was six that she dressed up as Swamy Vivekananda for a fancy dress competition in school and recited a few of his quotes. She was in awe of how he put India on the global map.
She wanted to do the same for the country and when she fell in love with table tennis, she decided that will be the way she does it,” Anuradha says in conclusion.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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