THANE: It was a proud moment for the lake city, as two of the five-member squad of the women’s table tennis team, which bagged gold in the ongoing 21st Commonwealth Games in Australia, spent their schooling and training days in Thane.
Smashing the defending champions, Singapore, the Indian team comprising Madhurika Patkar, Manika Batra, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, Mouma Das and
Surtitha Mukherjee made history on the fourth day of the iconic Common Wealth Games.
Patkar, an ex-student of
Holy Cross Convent School and Sahasrabuddhe, an alumnus of
Saraswati Secondary School, are former residents of Thane, now married and settled out of the city.
Father of Madhurika, Suhas Patkar, a resident of Vasant Lawns, said, “Ever since the age of six, Madhurika was into extra-curricular activities like swimming and dance. Impressed with her swimming, we realized that she could have potential in indoor sports too, as her stamina was great. Then a friend of mine suggested we send her for table tennis classes. She learnt the basics there. This was the starting point of her career as she never looked back after this. Her leg movements in dance and swimming helped her in table tennis.”
After years of hard work, months of perfecting a particular stroke, attending innumerable training camps across the globe from Poland, Germany, Hungary, to Patiala the starlets were finally chosen as the coveted five to represent India.
“Every day I would see Madhurika practising for six hours and also following a strict protein diet, coupled with gym, yoga and meditation. In 2010 as well, she had the honour of getting selected for the Common Wealth games where she bagged a silver medal,” added her father.
From competing in inter-school games and then jumping onto the district, state, national and the international platform, Madhurika, who turned 30 on Tuesday, has set her target at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
Smashing the defending champions, Singapore, the Indian team comprising Madhurika Patkar, Manika Batra, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, Mouma Das and Surtitha Mukherjee made history on the fourth day of the iconic Common Wealth Games
