"UPP will prove beneficial for Indian youngsters"

Ultimate Ping Pong (UPP), the country's first-ever professional table tennis league can prove beneficial to Indian youngsters, Chennai's A Muralidhara Rao and N Ravichandran, who have been picked as coaches for the inaugural edition, said.
The league can help Indian players, especially the younger lot, who can learn a lot by just watching the top-ranked paddlers perform, Muralidhara Rao, who has been chosen by Challengers, one of the six franchises told PTI.
"It is a privilege to be selected as one of the coaches in the inaugural UPP. It appears to be a very good format and is designed to produce a lot of thrills. Moreover, it can help generate greater interest among the spectators," said Rao.

He said the franchised-based tournament would offer the Indian players to watch the foreigners from close quarters and learn how they go about preparing for matches.
"Since matches will be best of three games, one can expect a lot of upsets. It will be easy for lower-ranked players and top-ranked players will be under lot of pressure. I am sure it will take the game to the next level," he said.
The format is such that a team can't be over-reliant on one player and provides opportunities for everyone to put their hand up and contribute, Rao said. This is where, the Indian youngsters can learn by observing the big names play in pressure situations, he said.

World No. 7 Wong Chun Ting (Hong Kong) and ninth-ranked woman Han Ying (Germany) will be the marquee names in UPP, to be played at three centres including Chennai in July.

Chennai's A Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra head the list of 12 men and 12 women from India. Tamil Nadu players A Amalraj and G Sathiyan (men), Amurtha Pushpak, S Selena Deepthi and C R Harshavardhini would also be part of UPP.
Rao also expected to gain by watching the foreign coaches and their methods.
"I am looking forward to being part of UPP and interacting with some of the world's best players and coaches. How the coaches go about their job will be interesting to watch," he said.

Ravichandran, a former player, on his part, said the tournament was one of the best things to have happened to Indian table tennis.
"Rubbing shoulders with the foreign players will be a good experience for the young Indian players. The format is an interesting one and would help the younger paddlers get used to playing under pressure as the matches are best of three games.
Apart from the players themselves, the coaches would stand to benefit by being part of this ambitious League. "It will be good to work with the foreign coaches. We can get to know how they plan with their wards for matches," he said.

He singled out Sharath Kamal for praise and said his performance at the World Championship in Dusseldorf recently showed the India No.1 still had a lot to offer.
The duo of Manika Batra and Mouma Das reached the last eight at the Worlds, which showed Indian players were improving, he said adding that intensive training and match practice were crucial for a player's development.
Also, he said there were several talented youngsters in the country and if nurtured properly they could do well at the international level.
Ravichandran said Chennai paddlers Amalraj and Sathiyan had been doing well in recent times with the former reaching the final of the Brazil Open and winning the doubles title at the Chile Open.

Among the juniors, he said names like Archana Kamath, Amurtha Pushpak and Selena Deepthi had the potential and exposure to international tournaments would help them realise that and shine on the world stage.
In this regard, he said events like the UPP could help the up-and-coming Indians as they could learn a few tricks from the foreign stars.