Indian Table tennis in further distress after foreign coach Dejan Papic arrival further delayed
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India’s table tennis team, who have been without a foreign coach since the 2018 Asian Games could further need to practice alone after foreign coach Dejan Papic’s knee surgery has further delayed his arrival. TTFI has also been reportedly keen on signing German coach Jorg Bitzegaio as a replacement.
The newly-appointed coach hasn’t even taken charge of the Indian side since being finalized in March and appointed in July owing to his knee injury. This would only lead to more loss of crucial time for the players, who desperately needed an expert with months left for Olympics.
And the Canadian coach would now reportedly further delay for two more months with the surgery to his knee. Table Tennis Federation of India secretary MP Singh has revealed that he had no idea of his medical condition when he was appointed.
“Papic will take another two months to recover. Players are losing crucial time and we realise that but we got to know about his knee surgery much later after the appointment process was completed,” said Singh, reported PTI.
“We have approached a few coaches to take charge of the national squad. We are awaiting their response,” he added.
However, with Papic’s stint not expected to start anytime soon, the TTFI has been reportedly keen on signing German coach Jorg Bitzegaio, who is currently with the USA team. “Our leading players, Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan, have given their thumbs up to Jorg. We hear that he resigned as USA coach but his resignation was not accepted. Hopefully, they accept his resignation so that he can come to India at the earliest,” Singh said.
The TTFI had short-listed Papic way back in March but the Sports Authority of India send him the contract only in July. His signing was further delayed in the process as the Canadian took time to sign the contract owing to administrative issues.
