New Delhi: Manav Thakkar’s eagerness and hunger to play table tennis is what separates him from the rest of the players, recounts childhood coach Vahed Mallubhai. It was only within a month when a six-year-old Manav trained at the Sufaiz Academy in Surat’s Zampa Bazar, when Vahed told Mr. Vikas Thakkar that his son would one day play for India at the highest level.
And the coach’s words will turn true on Tuesday as Manav will be part of a three-member Indian men’s team along with veteran Sharath Kamal and statemate Harmeet Desai as they take on China in the round of 16 at the South Paris Arena in the French capital. At the age of 24, Manav will make his Olympics debut along with a player he idolised during his childhood in Surat and another one who has been his mentor in his journey, who is also 18 years older than him.
Manav’s love for the racket sport bloomed at the age of 5. It all started after watching his parents Vikas and Kalpana, both professional doctors, playing the game at home. The parents used to play TT in their college times and so would play with each other in their leisure time at their home. Observing them shuffle a small ball, their son urged them to allow him to try a hand on the game although his height wasn’t a match to the table.
“He would clap when we played a shot even though he didn’t have any clue what this game is about.
He expressed his desire to play even though his height wasn’t matchable to the table. I made him stand a bit far away from the table and fed him balls that could reach his bat, just like we do in cricket. In the first time, he made 5-7 returns and from there on the passion ensued,” father Vikas Thakkar told News9 Sports from his residence in Surat.
First academy in Surat
Soon Manav wanted to further explore the game and therefore he would ask his parents to join him at the table at their home even if they had patients to attend. It wasn’t feasible for the two doctors (Vikas as an ophthalmologist and Kalpana as an Ayurvedic professional) to give ample time to their son for his new love, and that’s when they were recommended to meet Vahed Mallubhai, who was well known for training kids in the ‘Diamond City’.
“When the coach saw Manav first, he denied, saying he is too small based on his height, and asked me to bring him next year. I requested him to watch Manav play once before making a final word. So me and Manav played before him and he felt that this was some exceptional talent,” said Dr Vikas Thakkar.
The stint with Vahed was the one where Manav only cared about the sport without having any thoughts about where it would take him. As mother Kalpana trips down the memory lane of how Manav treated other things as second fiddle to table tennis, a tale of dedication comes forth.
“Even while studying time you would always see ball in his hands. When he would go to sleep at night, he would have cricket or table tennis ball. The ball was his constant companion. We would sometimes struggle to wake him up for school but then if we tell him to wake up for TT practice, he would instantly get up from deep sleep,” she said.
“He would reach at practice even before the coach and clean the tables and then start practising for the serves. He would warm-up before the coach and when Vahed sit would arrive then he would start with matches with Manav.
In case we went to pick him early then his first question would be that why did you come so early, I still want to play,” she added.
Move to Ajmer brought trouble for Manav
After spending six years with Vahed in Surat, Manav moved to Ajmer for advance training at the age of 12 in 2011. But the shift didn’t go well with the youngster developing an illness which could have likely detered his junior playing days.
“I suffered from backbone tuberculosis because of food and everything. I didn’t used to like the food there (in Ajmer). I was on medication for 2-3 years and also playing at the same time. That period was very hard,” Manav told News9 Sports from Germany before the team reached Paris.
“Now I am 56kg in weight but at that point, I was 44kg because of the health issues and I wasn’t eating much,” he added.
Father Vikas said that malnutrition was the root cause of his illness and it took him around 40 days in Surat to curb it. But Manav remained unfazed by this and went on to claim the South Asian Cadet Open in 2015 (U-15) besides winning the U-12 national championship in 2011.
Manav dominated the junior circuits not just at the national level but on the international stage as well, becoming World No.1 at U-18 in 2018 and U-21 in 2020. In between, he became an Asian Games bronze medallist in the men’s team event, though he didn’t play any game in Jakarta but was part of the squad led by Sharath.
Commonwealth Games snub leads to transformation
Manav feels his snub from the 2022 Commonwealth Games squad inspired him to take his game a notch higher. He trained in Germany at Saarbrucken, a facility where Indian paddlers completed their final preparations before the Paris Games.
However, Manav wasn’t among the scheme of things with Sharath, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Harmeet Desai being the regulars at major international events, and was out of the top five Indians by February 2023. Only grinding in Germany under coach Chris Pffeifer brought a massive change in his game style. He won three national ranking tournaments to end the year as India’s No.2 He credited this success to Sharath, whom he defeated twice in his transitional phase.
“When I asked him (Sharath) that I am doing all this but I am not getting the desired results. He was clear with me that I should trust my process and slowly things will come into place. Still we were making minor changes in terms of fitness or changing the training center. Training in Europe or training in Chennai,” the 24-year-old Manav said.
“So training in different places with different opponents and slowly slowly got the feedback from different coaches what could be done. The matches I played earlier ones. I was losing with a very closed margins. He was giving me confidence that you are on the right track.
“Once I got the desired results then the confidence also came to me. I defeated him twice in Doha and Trivandrum nationals,” he added.
Olympics dream
Manav’s giant strides also reflected in international events, winning a bronze at WTT Corpus Christi to start the year on a great note. He lost to Sathiyan in the WTT Feeder Beirut in March to settle for silver but his consistency and the Chennai paddler’s dip in form saw the Surat-based paddler attain his career-best ranking of 56. This turned a key factor for him to pip Sathiyan in the team for the Olympics.
“It’s a dream of every athlete to be at the Olympics. It’s a highest sporting event and I was really happy for that. Until the last year, I was not in the race with my rankings not in the best spot. But now I am really excited for my first Olympics as I will be part of the team event,” Manav spoke on his Olympics debut.
Manav is excited to reunite with Harmeet as men’s doubles pair as they are only Olympians from Gujarat apart from shooter Elavenil Valarivan to represent India at the Paris Olympics.
“We have a very good bonding as I used to look up to him. When I was growing up, I heard his name a lot that he is a very good player from Gujarat. Once I came people started comparing me with him like you play like him. I used to always feel good,” Manav said.
“Before playing doubles with Manush, I used to play with Harmeet also for one and a half years. It was a great learning for me and now again we are playing doubles (in team’s event). So excited that we are back together and hopefully we will see some results over there,” he added.
If there is something Manav doesn’t like is losing a game. The incident goes back to his state championship days when he was just seven years old. He lost to an opponent from Porbandar in a deuce-advantage stage but cried throughout the return journey from Valsad to Surat, as coach Vahed vividly remembers.
“After losing he would cry very loudly. He won’t talk much with anyone after losing but we do text or encourage him. After wins he definitely calls me but after loss, he doesn’t speak to anyone. He has been matured enough after Covid-19 and as he grows he will understand things better,” Dr Kalpana concludes.
India will participate in their first-ever men’s team event ever since it was introduced in the 2008 Games in Beijing. Whether Manav and the other two senior paddlers will succeed in upsetting a powerhouse like China will be an element of surprise but for the Surat-based paddler, the goal is to beat at least two top-20 players at the most prestigious event of his life.
News9Live caught up with Manav Thakkar, his parents Vikas Thakkar and Kalpana Thakkar, and childhood coach Vahed Mallubhai to track the interesting journey of the 24-year-old from Surat to Paris. Manav will make his Olympics debut when the Indian men’s team face China on Tuesday. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
