 |
Kamlesh Mehta | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 May 1960 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Table tennis player |
Kamlesh Navichandra Mehta (born 1 May 1960) is an Indian retired table tennis player. In March 2017, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, appointed him as the national observer for table tennis. [1]
Nicknamed Kamu, Kamlesh Mehta was born in Mumbai on 1 May 1960. After primary school at St. Joseph's Wadala branch, he went to R. A. Podar College in Mumbai to graduate in Commerce and then joined Dena Bank. He is married to the table tennis player from Assam, Monalisa Baruah (Monalisa Baruah Mehta).
Kamlesh was the captain of the Indian team from 1982 to 1989 and was the highest ranked Indian player in Asia, the Commonwealth and the world. He played in the final of the national championships on eleven occasions between 1981 and 1994, winning the title eight times. He was runner-up on three occasions.
Kamlesh represented India in seven world championships, eight Asian championships, two Asian Games, four South Asian Federation games, two Olympic Games and many other official and friendly competitions in India and abroad. His best performance came in the SAF Games in 1991 at Colombo where he won seven gold and four silver medals.
He won the World Bank Championship at the Isle of Man (UK) in 1989. He won all four gold medals at the Pentangular International Championships in 1983.
During a nearly twenty-year career, Kamlesh Mehta has received numerous recognitions. The Maharashtra Government's Shiv Chhatrapati Award was the first, received in 1979 followed in 1984 by The Friendship Trophy for being the best player from India at the Asian Championship in Islamabad. He was twice named the Best Sportsman by the Sports Journalists' Association of Bombay. He was awarded the Arjuna Award, in 1985. He was the first Indian to receive the Fair Play Trophy at the Commonwealth Championships, in 1989.
Mehta has coached the Indian table tennis team on multiple occasions. His was first appointed in 1998 to coach the national team at the Osaka Asian Games. [2] Later, he assisted the chief coach Massimo Constantini at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. [3]
Dhanraj Pillay is a retired Indian field hockey player and former captain of the India national team. He also looks after the Air India Sports Promotion Board as a Joint Secretary based in Mumbai. For the last 5 years, Dhanraj is overseeing the SAG Hockey Academy in Gujarat funded by the Gujarat Government. He is widely regarded as one of the best Indian players of hockey.
Achanta Sharath Kamal is an Indian professional table tennis player. He is the first Indian table tennis player ever to become ten time Senior National Champion hence breaking the record of eight-time National Champion Kamlesh Mehta. In 2019 he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award and in 2022, he was awarded the Khel Ratna Award, India's highest sporting honour. He is ranked 32 in ITTF world ranking. He beat Joo Se Hyuk and Chuang Chih-yuan, world no. 8 and 16 respectively in 2015 28th Asian cup at Jaipur. Sharath won the men's singles gold in the 16th Commonwealth table tennis championship held at Kuala Lumpur in 2004. He is a recipient of the Arjuna award for the year 2004.
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Monalisa Mehta is a table tennis player of Assam. She received an Arjuna Award in 1987 and is an important Assamese sports personality.
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Soumyajit Ghosh is an Indian table tennis player from Siliguri, West Bengal. He was the youngest Indian player to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics. He also became the youngest national champion at the age of 19, when he defeated Sharath Kamal in the 74th National Table Tennis Championships.
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Pooja Sahasrabudhe is an Indian International table tennis player from Thane, Maharashtra. She comes from a humble middle-class background, and was born and brought up in Thane, Maharashtra. She took to Table tennis at the age of 9 in the year 2000 and showed keen interest and great talent in the sport. Her coach Mrs. Shailaja Gohad at the Boosters TT Academy, was quick to notice this and it was under her guidance that Pooja groomed as a player. She started representing India at a very young age. Pooja did her schooling and graduation from Thane and was absorbed by ONGC in the year 2010. Pooja recently got married and moved to Pune, India where she continues to train under the guidance of Mr. Rohit Chaudhary - a Shiv Chatrapatee Awardee and her husband Mr. Aniket Koparkar - an ex-international himself.
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