India on positive track with table tennis growth, says Sweden TT coach Jorgen Persson

Published at :September 10, 2023 at 4:12 AM

Modified at :February 23, 2024 at 11:16 PM

The former world champion also spoke about Neeraj Chopra and PV Sindhu.

The European Team Table Tennis Championship 2023 is scheduled to be held from 10-17 September in Malmo, Sweden. A total of 28 countries are set to take part in the major event which serves as a qualifier for Paris Olympics 2024. The winner of the event gets an automatic qualification to the Olympics and 2002 champions Sweden are geared for the major competition.

Sweden has been a driving force in European table tennis for the past few decades and has produced several major male paddlers. One among them is former World Championships gold medalist Jorgen Persson, who is currently the coach of Swedish team. Ahead of the competition, Khel Now got an opportunity to interact with coach Jorgen Persson and Sweden table tennis Secretary General Thomas Buza.

Expectations going into European Team Table Tennis Championships

Former top 10 and current WR-13 Truls Moregaard is set to lead Swedish contingent at the European team championship. Matthias Falck (WR-20) and Anton Kallberg (WR-21) aren’t far behind either in terms of rankings and the trio together can help Sweden finish on top with Germany and France giving them a tough fight in the event.

Coach Jorgen Persson said, “the expectations are high as we are playing in our home at Malmo. It has been a long time since we had a team event of European Championships in Sweden. We had a training camp in mid-August and all the players were motivated to clinch gold and book a spot for Paris Olympics 2024. The last time we won gold was way back in 2002 and most recently we lost to Germany in the European Games.”

Apart from Germany, France also has a good setup and would be looking to win the title at the European Championships.

Development of TT in Sweden

The Secretary General quipped, “We are constantly increasing the number of players taking part alongside the coaches and referees. Apart from this we are foccussing on finding target groups where we attract larger audience. This is one thing which we are working very hard on.

“The pandemic hasn’t disturbed our ecosystem as the players participating in tournaments and playing the sport has remained almost the same. With respect to numbers (participation), we have remained stable which is positive but also would like to see an increase. Apart from the current European team Championships, we will be organizing, Youth and Junior Championships next year. These tournaments should help the sport grow to wider audience.”

Women’s participation

There are three male players in top 20 of WTT rankings but when it comes to female paddlers, there is only one in the top 50 and two in the top 100. The sport has seen growth among the male audience but on the contrary, there isn’t equal participation with respect to female contingent.

“As part of our plans, we want more female players to play table tennis. This is a holy grail to Sweden table tennis because if we ask ten clubs on why women’s play or don’t play table tennis then we get ten different answers. So, it is really difficult for us to understand and find an answer. But we are taking steps to improve for which we have hired a strategist from Greece Maria Christopher, a former TT player.

“She is very focused on growing the sport from a female perspective. We have done a lot of activities — like conducting a women’s festival in June this year that attracted hundreds of female players. Hopefully in future we will get to see good players nurturing out.

“The biggest challenge in Sweden or anywhere in the world is accessibility. We believe we are accessible, but if you ask anyone on the streets in Sweden on how to get into the sport then I think close to 90 per cent will have no answer. But if you ask them about other sport; suppose say Badminton then they will have the answer on how to pursue and about with the sport. We need to open up and get more accessible by opening up more venues for larger audience.”

Jorgen Persson’s thoughts on Indian table tennis

“I have a fond memory of playing the World Championships in New Delhi in 1987. The men’s and women’s team are doing really good having won several medals at the Commonwealth Games. Achanta Sharath Kamal is a good ambassador for the sport with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran too performing good. For me India is on a positive track and with UTT taking shape, more players shall evolve going forward.

“On the other hand, with respect to other sports the growth has been equally good. Sports on a whole is getting equal importance. Recently Neeraj Chopra won a gold medal in Javelin at the World Championships and in badminton you have PV Sindhu who has won two Olympic medals.”

Role of Analytics

Indian AI based company Stupa Sports Analytics are the official data and AI partners for the European Table Tennis Championship and the Swedish national team. They have played a major role in Indian table tennis having partnered alongside UTT (Ultimate Table Tennis)

“It is good to gets stats and additional information but when the match is intense and the score for instance is tied (9-9) then we cannot rely on statistics at that particular moment. As a coach I would like to see stats on how the opponents are playing.

“The analytics acts as a good tool for TV audience, who get to see stats and the graphic at times engages them. Overall, you need to find solutions rather than just relying on the stats.”