Young table tennis sensation

Even as the coveted All India Montfort Games gets set to unfold at Nagpur on Wednesday, all eyes of not only people from the city but even those of the participants will be on an eight-year-old paddler from Hyderabad.

Jatin Dev Jaiswal, a third standard student at St Paul’s High School in Hyderguda, will make news even before he goes for his first serve in the four-day tournament.

He will be the youngest table tennis player from among the 45 schools that are participating in the prestigious inter-school national championship that also features competitions in a multitude of disciplines. Obviously, the kid will be the cynosure of all eyes.

Of course, he is much more than merely being the babe-in-the woods. With a bat in hand and positioning himself across the table, he will alter one’s opinions about him given his prowess, which is pretty amazing for one who took to the sport just a little over a year back.

Gifted he certainly is. Mentored by international player K Ramakrishna, he recently won the Under-10 boys singles title in the State ranking tournament that was conducted by Anandnagar Welfare Association. In the Rukmini Bai tournament that was organised by Secunderabad Public School in West Marredpally, Jatin’s heroics inspired his school to the silver medal in the junior category.

His coach opines that the new kid on the block is ‘endowed with natural talent, can steadily scale the ladder if he is able to sustain his stroke-making abilities and gets more competitive exposure’.

The confidence is not unfounded.
Jatin is the State’s top ranked player in the Under-10 category and is in the top eight of the Under-12 category, which is quite impressive for a boy who is just eight years old!

Soon after the Nagpur outing, he will be readying himself for the equally big challenge that awaits him at Vadodra, which will host the national inter-school table tennis tournament from December 10 to 12.

He will represent Telangana State in the premier event. This follows the momentous showing in the Eleven Sports tournament conducted by Reliance Group, where he steered his school to the junior category team gold,

Incidentally, apart from excelling in table tennis and academics, he is a two-time bronze winner in roller skating competitions that were organised by Deccan Hawks. The bundle of talent going by the name of Jatin Dev Jaiswal is here to stay.