Mohammed Ibrahim Khan will accompany the Indian teams for the South Asian Cadet & Junior table tennis Championships 2014 to be held at Islamabad,Pakistan from August 27 to 29 as coach. Joining him will be Arulselvi Narayanan, also a former paddler.
The industrious coach along with P. Nagender Reddy formed a formidable combination in their playing days. While in active competition, they set up the St. Paul’s Table Tennis Academy in Hyderguda. It grew by leaps and bounds boasting today of hundreds of players, who have gained proficiency in the sport. The dedicated duo moulded the careers of several paddlers, who made their mark on the national firmament. Always keen to expose their players to quality coaching, they had giants of the game such as Peter Karlsson and Kamlesh Mehta visit their academy and share their expertise with their trainees.
A deputy manager with the State Bank of India (SBI), Ibrahim’s dedication and discipline have been driven into his wards, making them paddlers of potential. His love affair with the table spanning nearly four decades, it was not surprising that he was entrusted with prestigious national and international assignments.
When he was Indian team coach for the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games at Islamabad in 2004, the national squad bagged a stunning seven gold medals.
Other important tasks he handled include being coach to the 2005 Asian Championships at Jeju, South Korea, the World Pro Tour in Brazil and Chile in 2006 and the 2007 Junior World Tour in Poland. He was also mentor for the senior Indian team to the invitation tournament at Lahore in April 2008, where the country clinched four gold medals.
The teams:
Boys: Lalrinpuia (PSPB), Utkarsh Gupta (PSPB), Sabhya Virmani (AAI), Fidel R S Snehit (Telangana), Akash Nath (WB).
Girls: Ayhika Mukherjee, Priyadarshani Das (both West Bengal), Sagarika Mukherjee (North Bengal), Akula
Sreeja, Naina (both Telangana), Shruthi Vijay Amrute (Maharashtra), Archana Girish Kamath (Karnataka).
