At 63, battling kidney ailment, renowned table tennis coach Jayanta Pushilal wants to contribute more to the sport he has given all of his life to. The man, who has produced 11 national champions, shared his heart’s desire with his former students at a felicitation programme at Ultadanga on Saturday.
Students, past and recent past, coached by him at Narikeldanga Sadharan Samity, spearheaded by his most successful disciple Mouma Das, had organised the event to celebrate his Dronacharya award. Pushilal had been nominated for a sports coach’s highest government recognition for 2023 and received the award from the President this January.
The coach, who was discharged from hospital just two days ago, walked into the banquet hall of a hotel at Hudco More supported by his students. “I want a kidney transplant. I want to do more to create players,” said Pushilal.
Speaking on behalf of the ex-students, Amit Das and Aniket Koparkar announced they had already registered Pushilal for a transplant. “The waiting period is 12 to 18 months. We will set up a fund and I propose that each of us contribute monthly whatever our means allow. Aniket has been through the process for his father’s liver transplant. He will guide us,” said Amit, a 1998 junior doubles champion who now stays in DA Block in New Town.
Jayanta Pushilal at the felicitation programme organised by his former students at a hotel at Hudco more.
Aniket, the 2008 national junior champion who has represented India, came over from Pune. “In our time, six-seven of the country’s top players were from our club. I have been training under him since the age of 10. For 10-12 years, I would come down from Pune regularly,” he said.
Another out-of-town student who came to attend the occasion was Pathik Mehta of Bhavnagar. “Our entire Gujarat team benefited from his coaching. Not only sports, his lessons help me in running my business today,” said Mehta, who has represented India in the Commonwealth Championship.
Two others from out of Bengal, who could not come, sent video messages. Said Ambika Radhika, who played in the 1996 Olympic Games: “During a match, I simply had to look at you to know what you wanted me to do,” she said, addressing the man the players lovingly call Botonda.
Srinivasan spoke of the time Pushilal was the coach of the Kerala team around 1989. “His greatest contribution is how he picked up students from economically weaker backgrounds, groomed them and made them lead a disciplined life. The way he gave his students a direction in life helped settle them. That is more important than winning or losing matches.”
Arup Basak, a Dhyanchand awardee and national coach who held the record of being at the top of the domestic ranking for eight consecutive years, recounted from Mumbai how Pushilal raised the stature of the Narkeldanga club, from one table tennis board to eight, which was unheard of in the country then. “In 1993, it was India’s biggest TT academy. By 1997, he had groomed two national champions and four or five state champions. But he wanted more. So he secured permission from the then sports minister Margaret Alva to train at the National Institute of Sports, Chandigarh. After stints as coach of Bengal and Kerala state teams, in 2002, he even went to Germany to get advanced training at his own expense. Even I owe my success to him,” said Basak.
Olympian Mouma Das writes her salutation message for her coach Jayanta Pushilal on a board put up at the programme.
“This man taught India that TT is a science,” said Somshankar Chatterjee, who went on to do a PhD on the sport after playing under Pushilal. He gifted him a portrait drawn by himself. “He has coached in three countries — India, the US and the Maldives,” added Subham Chowdhury, a national sub-junior champion and a 2004 Commonwealth Championship gold-winning team member.
Under his coaching at the national camp, for the first time ever the India team of Mouma, Poulami Ghatak, Mantu Ghosh, Nandita Roy and Anindita Chakraborty came back from the World Championship in Doha with team gold in the second division in 2004, added Mouma’s husband Kanchan.
Other former national champions like Kisoloy Basak, Ranabir Das, Runa Roy, Niloy Basak and Prapti Sen and world railways champion Anirban Nandy were also present. The programme ended with the coach being felicitated with a 12ft garland.
Mouma, a two-time Olympian who reached the National Championship final in 2022 on her return to competitive sports after motherhood, spoke last among the students. “Botonda, I want to win one more national (title). Please get well so you can be at my courtside during the tournament. I believe no one can beat me if you are present. Ki, tumi thakbe toh?” the mother of a four-year-old, with five national titles and six final appearances under her belt, said emotionally.
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