A few weeks ago table tennis player Ayhika Mukherjee had bumped into Doo Hoi Kem, a top Hong Kong paddler, during a
tournament.

After the usual pleasantries, the player told Ayhika that she and her compatriots were relieved they would not have to play the Naihati-born 27-year-old Asian Games doubles bronze medal winner.

The Hong Kong paddler feared that Ayhika’s presence in the India squad would have posed problems if they were to meet in the team event of the Paris Olympic Games.

There is more. In the first week of May, the Olympic Gold Quest-backed Ayhika was offered a contract to play four matches in the Chinese table tennis league. Ayhika refused as she feared Chinese coaches would have a chance to analyse her game before the Paris Games.

As fate would have it, Ayhika is not in the Olympic Games squad but got the nod as the ‘Alternate Player’. That means if any of the three — Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula or Archana Kamath — gets injured or falls ill, chief coach Massimo Costantini can call Ayhika into action.

For someone who played an important role in India’s maiden Olympic Games qualification in the team event — she won four of her six singles matches including the one against world No. 1 Chinese Sun Yingsha — Ayhika’s non-inclusion was painful. Unfortunately, her ranking dipped when the teams for the Paris Games were to be announced (mid-May) and Kamath sneaked in as the third player. Her ranking was 136, while Kamath’s 103. Now riding some good performances on the circuit, Ayhika is world No. 86. Kamath has slipped to 133.

There were murmurs of dissent but the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) could not be blamed as they went by the rule books.

The qualification criteria were set months back. The reason for the dip in rankings between April and May was bizarre. She missed at least four tournaments in Europe after failing to get the visa.

“She could not get the visa due to time constraints. Ayhika had applied for the Schengen visa through the Spanish embassy in Calcutta. It was rejected since her bank statement did not have the stamp from the branch where she has her account. It was plain bad luck. Missing those tournaments was a huge blow to her chances,” someone who is following Ayhika’s career closely from a very early stage told The Telegraph.

The question, once again, arises is if a professional player needs guidance, a manager or the association (TTFI in this case) should take care of these things.

On Thursday, she and the rest of the contingent — including Calcutta’s Sourav Chakraborty who is the one of the coaches — flew out to Paris from New Delhi. From Paris, the players and members of the support staff will travel to Saarbrucken in Germany for a 10-day camp before returning to Paris.

Ayhika does not have much chance of featuring in any of the matches.

“Looks improbable,” a team source said.

That would mean even though she will be in Paris, Ayhika will miss the high of being an Olympian.

You need a little bit of luck too to realise your dream.