Sanmay Paranjpe is not my new coach, clarifies Manika Batra

Disapproving the media reports on her new coach, India’s top female table tennis player Batra has said that Pune-based Paranjpe is not her new coach and she has travelled to Pune only to play and practice. She called Paranjpe as her co-player and practice partner. Recently Batra had decided to cut ties with her long-standing coach Sandeep Gupta and shifted her base from Delhi to Pune. 

"I thank Sanmay (Paranjpe) as a co-player and also various players who train here (Pune) with me now and will be training in future. Of course, it has been made possible by Sanmay but that does not mean he is my coach. In sports terminology, there is a big difference between a coach and practice partner," Manika in a statement, reported TOI.

Paranjpe is still an active player and he had trained with Batra last year before the Hungary Open in June. She was accompanied by her previous coach Gupta during that session in Pune.

"I want to make it clear that I am not her coach. As fellow players, we help out each other against our respective weaknesses," Paranjpe told TOI.

The 23-year-old paddler had created history by winning as many as four medals at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games last year. At the Asian Games in 2018, she and veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal had bagged a bronze medal in the mixed doubles category for India. However, she has informed that she was not satisfied with the training in the previous academy and had to quit practising under Gupta.

"For several months, I wasn't happy with my training in my previous academy, which I had communicated to my coach but there was no change in training. I, therefore, stopped going to the academy for training after the nationals in January. I had to take the decision to quit training under Sandeep sir officially in February. This decision was not taken overnight but only after waiting patiently for several months," Batra said.