Table Tennis is a dynamic and fast-paced indoor game, consisting of a best of 5 games of 11 points each. In BOSM, matches are played as per the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rules and each contest between two colleges consists of three singles and two reverse singles.
In an interview with the BOSM English Press, the captain of the Boy’s Table Tennis team, Shreyansh Jain said that the team feels excited and well prepared for BOSM. They have been practising for about 4 hours daily – 2 hours in the morning and the evening. Great focus, Shreyansh said, has been put into cardio in order to build stamina. Nevertheless, Shreyansh said that he is confident in his team’s ability to perform this year.
One of the major issues was that the table tennis team is facing during practice is that one of their tables has become unusable after glue was spilt on it last APOGEE. A replacement is required, but under the given time constraints it has not been possible to get one so far.
In the past year the table tennis team has attended two tournaments. They won a bronze medal in last year’s BOSM, and they attended IIT Bombay’s sports meet; one of the largest in the country, where they reached the second round. When asked about the team’s major rivals, Shreyansh replied that there are a lot of up-and-coming teams out there who are potential challengers. MUJ, the team that knocked BITS out of the semi-finals last year and eventual victors of BOSM, and Shree Ram College of Commerce are teams to look out for.
This year, recruitments for the table tennis team were rigorous. Instead of having candidates play a round-robin amongst themselves they shortlisted a set of them to play against members of the table tennis team over the span of a fortnight. This was the basis for the final selections into the team. Shreyansh said that he was especially happy with two of the new recruits of the team this year, two first years, one in the B. Pharm. branch and the other pursuing an M.E.
Shreyansh is quite accomplished himself. He has been ranked in the top 8 of his state and has won numerous district and inter-school competitions. He has been playing since 5th grade, and after a short hiatus in 11th and 12th grade he resumed playing table tennis when he started college and has now become captain of the team. This is his first time as captain and this has changed his dynamic with the game. He often has to adjust his gameplay based on how his team is doing and play accordingly. Apart from that, as captain he is responsible for scheduling practice times, checking on the physical welfare and interacting with the COSSAC, with who he has been quite pleased with. Despite having to dedicate so much of his time towards Table Tennis, it has not affected his academics. Through good scheduling he makes sufficient time to spend on his academic work.
He loves the intensity of the game and the mind play behind it. He admits that it is not a very physically strenuous game as compared to other sports but the amount of thought required in every move made is what makes the game so intense and arduous.