Focused on the long journey

Karnataka boasts of a good pool of talented table tennis players in the junior ranks. While Archana Kamath has risen up the ranks in quick fashion to make a mark, many youngsters have shown promise to be the next in line. One such player is Anargya Manjunath.

Anargya, a consistent performer at the State level for the past five years, received a big boost to her career when she annexed the mini cadet singles gold at the Jordan Open in July this year. Representing India for the first time, Anargya made the trip to Amman memorable by winning the final 11-7, 6-11, 11-5, 12-10 against Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Pu-Syuan.

It was a fine learning experience for the 14-year-old, who is eager to make more appearances for the country. “I gained more knowledge on the game from players of different countries at the Jordan Open. Their strokes and overall style of play were so different from what I have seen while playing in India,” says Anargya.

Similar to her India debut, Anargya returned home with a medal in the cadet category in her first-ever national meet at Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, in 2014. Anargya bagged the bronze in the team event of the 76th cadet and sub-junior national championship. “To win a medal at your first nationals is special. It will always remain close to my heart,” she says.

Anargya went a step ahead next year in the same meet, inspiring Karnataka to a final berth in the team event of the cadet girls section in Kolkata. Her heroics in the last four stage helped Karnataka get past a fancied West Bengal 3-1. In the final against Tamil Nadu, the Bengaluru girl was the standout performer for her State. She won her singles and doubles ties along with Yashaswini Ghorpade but Karnataka settled for silver, following a narrow 2-3 loss.

The youngster began playing the game at the OMM Table Tennis institute on Kanakapura road under coach Mallesh at the age of seven. Regular success in State-ranking events early on forced her parents to back Anargya to the hilt. “She joined the OMM academy because one of her close friends was playing there. Within three months, Anargya devloped a keen interest and we have been supporting her since then,” says father Manjunath B S, a senior advisory consultant at IBM. Anargya, now coached by former national champion Bona Thomas and Anirban Tarafdar, is enjoying a good run this year. After winning the sub-junior singles gold in the Canara Union’s 49th State-ranking tournament in June, Anargya, representing her school Bangalore International Academy, won the senior girls’ singles crown in the third 11Sports Inter-school championships.

Happy with her progress, coach Bona feels putting in more hours at the training can help Anargya scale new heights. “She has been doing pretty well. She rose to third in the cadets singles ranking a couple of years ago and her win at the Jordan Open should give her confidence. Anargya plays long rallies very well and apart from her skills, she is focusing on her fitness level. I felt her fitness required further improvement and she has been training under senior coach V R Beedu at the Sree Kanteerava stadium daily. If she continues to dedicate more hours in training, Anargya can succeed at the highest level” says Bona.

Tarafdar feels Anargya has become stronger in her attack. “Earlier, she lacked power and her fitness level wasn’t completely upto the mark. But she has worked hard to gain control of her game and her power has increased. If you have to do well in international tournaments, your fitness level has to be good. She has a powerful backhand while her stamina is much better,” notes Tarafdar.

Anargya sees her contemporary Archana as her inspiration. “I look up to Archana and she is my favourite player. I love her dedication to the sport,” she says.