Joshi was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Nepal Sports Journalists Forum at the annual Pulsar Sports Award. Republica correspondent Neeraj Chandra Roy recently caught up with him. Here are the excerpts: [break]
How did you begin your table tennis career?
We had a table tennis board at home. I learnt it since my childhood days along with my brothers. There were eight of us and all of us were table tennis players. Four of us even played at the international level.
What was your age when you started playing table tennis?
I have been playing table tennis ever since I can remember. It was during the 50s. Back then, we used to call the game ‘ping pong’. Only later did I know that the game was actually called table tennis. My grandfather had placed a wooden board at our house and it was my elder brothers from whom I learnt the game. Later on, I improved my game by watching the performance of good players like GP (Guheshwari Prasad) Lohani. He was the first national champion.
What was the condition of the game back then?
There were only a handful of boards at that time. It was like a family game. We had a board as did the Basnets and the Pandeys of Dilibazaar. We also used to go to Patan to play table tennis. Now there are table tennis boards at every school.
What are the other differences?
There wasn’t any government-built table tennis training centers at that time. The National Sports Council itself was a one-room office at the Bagh Durbar, Sundhara. It was only in 1971 that the NSC moved to its present location at the Dasharath Stadium. However, the NSC used to lend support to organize tournaments.
Tournaments used to be held at Saraswati Sadan of Tri Chandra Campus, the Army hall and the Police Club hall. We also used to have different games held under the ‘Youth Festival’ organized every year by the local youths of Kathmandu for almost ten years.
The first tournament (junior) that I participated was in 1960 held at Bahadur Bhavan, which is now the office of the Election Commission at Kantipath. Even the Chinese team had participated in the tournament.
At that time, the tournaments used to be centered in Kathmandu. There were no activities outside the valley. It was only in 1973 that a tournament was held outside Kathmandu for the first time. We organized the 11th National Championship in Birgunj. I was already a coach then. I still remember organizing the match till midnight. The format of the game was quite different. There used to be 21 sets and best-of-nine games. Now it’s really easy to organize games because the format has changed to best-of-five with 11 sets since a couple of years.
We also distributed 30 boards to different districts during the championship.
When did you become a coach?
I was selected for coaches’ training in Japan in 1970. At that time, Chinese coaches used to train us here. They wanted me to stay here because I was a good player. They agreed to let me go only after I convinced them that I would produce much better players than myself. I finally attended the six-month training and returned in 1971. Since then, I started coaching table tennis players until four years ago. I was the chief coach during the last 20 years of my career when Nepal won gold in the South Asia Federation (SAF) Games.
Do we have any foreign coach now? Who brought them here and how long did they stay here?
We don’t have any foreign coaches now. The Chinese coaches were sent here by the Chinese government as a part of its project to develop table tennis world-wide. It was their policy and they sent new coaches every year for almost a decade in the 70s.
Did you succeed in your mission of producing better players than yourself?
Yes, of course. I have produced some of the best players for Nepal. Sijrin Shah, Parambir Rana, Chaturananda Baidhya, Rajendra Kapali, Sandip Singh Mahat and Susheel Poudel are among them. Shah along with Geeta Chhetri, Neelam Tuladhar and Pooja Thapa had won gold for Nepal in the fifth edition of the SAF Games (now renamed as South Asian Games) in 1991. That was the highest achievement for Nepali table tennis.
What is the present scenario of Nepali table tennis?
Lots of tournaments are being held these days. It is a good sign. Like in the foreign countries, children as young as eight/nine years are getting access to the game at their schools. Our position is also strong in South Asia. We are neck-to-neck with other south Asian countries except India.
Then why are we unable to win gold as we did 22 years ago?
That is because we do not have target-training. There used to be special trainings for a long time ahead of major tournaments. But it is not possible right now because of lack of funds. We are having regular training nowadays but the result will definitely be different when the players do not get diet allowance. Earlier, the players also used to get training abroad. Playing with better players was one of the key reasons for Nepal to win gold but it is quite sad that our players are not getting an opportunity to train abroad these days.
Why is it not possible to train abroad now? Why don’t you have enough funds these days?
All Nepal Table Tennis Association was established in 1952. It is one of the oldest associations of Nepal and there were very few associations back then. The NSC used to provide funds for our training. But now more and more sports associations have been formed and the NSC has to allocate funds for all of them. So we are getting less support from the NSC than we used to get earlier. But I don’t blame them, they have their own compulsion. But I can assure that if we get proper support from the NSC than we can revive our glorious days.
Would you have dedicated all your life to table tennis if you hadn’t been appointed a coach?
Coaching table tennis players is the only job I’ve been involved all my life. Perhaps I would have opted for some other means of survival had I not been appointed a coach.
Do you have anything to say?
My parents used to scold me for playing table tennis too much. They used to ask me what I would get from sports. That perception changed after I got appointed as a coach. Now, after getting the lifetime achievement award, I feel that I was on the right track. I am satisfied for being involved in sports.
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