Ghosh is 25th Arjuna!

 

 

New Delhi: The top-ranked Indian in world ranking and two-time national champion Soumyajit Ghosh became the 25th player in table tennis when he was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 29, the National Sports Day.

 

In fact, table tennis had to wait for three years for another Arjuna Awardee to emerge after Mouma Das who was bestowed with the award in 2013.

 

The two-time Olympian Ghosh, who had represented both at the London and Rio Olympics, deserved all the accolades and the award. Incidentally, Ghosh was the youngest Indian paddler to have qualified for Olympics (London) and also became the third paddler from Siliguri (North Bengal) to win the Arjuna after Mantu Ghosh and Subhajit Saha.  

 

Ranked 65—eight places ahead of Sharath Kamal—as per IITF’s August list, Ghosh was disappointed to have bowed out in the first round itself as did our other paddlers at Rio when he lost to Tanviriyavechakul Padasak of Thailand 1-4. But he has put that loss behind him and is now targeting the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia and the Olympic at Tokyo two years later.

 

The 23-year-old Siliguri lad has a lot of hard work to do to retain his world rankings, if not better them, and also prepare himself to regain the national title he lost—Anthony Amalraj is the reigning champion. That is, indeed, a difficult task with growing competition even at home. But then Ghosh is capable of beating the best in business when he is in his zone.

 

That is what he will hope for and strive to achieve. The reported reception he received at home (Siliguri) after the Arjuna Award should only help him work towards achieving more laurels.