Inspired by the joint initiative of ace Indian table tennis players Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan, and Neha Agarwal, former international Anshuman Roy has raised funds for coaches of Karnataka who are grappling with financial distress due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Anshuman, the chief coach of SKIES International Table Tennis Academy located in Basavanagudi, has raised Rs 1 lakh in little over 30 days on Milaap, a crowd-funding platform.
“Sharath bhaiya started this idea to help people from the table tennis ecosystem across the country. I wanted to do my bit for the struggling coaches of Karnataka,” Anshuman, who trains Yashaswani Ghorpade, the top-ranked Indian in the U-15 section, told DH on Monday. The money has helped coaches like Veeresh Mathapati from Mathapati Table Tennis Academy (Mangaluru), Mallikarjun Pujari from Haliyal Table Tennis Academy (Uttara Kannada) and Rajashekar N from Parents Table Tennis Academy in Mysuru.
The initiative has also supported Cyril Salu Lopes who coaches at the Dayanilaya Table Tennis Academy for special children in Kumta and Saanvi Vishal Mandekar, the Karnataka Cadets girls’ No.1.
“I created a group on social media to discuss the issue with people from the Karnataka table tennis community. With academies located inside schools unable to re-open, many coaches in Bengaluru have hired venues to resume training. But not all coaches across Karnataka can afford to do that. The money we have put together so far has helped these coaches sustain as they don’t have any other source of income apart from coaching fee,” said Anshuman, thanking TG Upadhyay, secretary, Karnataka Table Tennis Association, for his support.
Anshuman, who plans to raise Rs five lakh, is looking forward to more support from table tennis enthusiasts, current and former players.
In June, the trio of Sharath, Sathiyan, and Neha raised Rs seven lakh at a national level. Impressed with the response, the players revised their target to Rs 10 lakh.