Talent in table tennis

Zubin Taraporewalla of Thana has been selected to the youth boys Maharashtra ‘A’ team to represent the state at the youth national championships to be held in Siliguri, West Bengal in January 2012. He is also part of the Maharashtra ‘B’ team in the men’s category for the senior national championships scheduled in Lucknow in February 2012. It had been a double delight for the 20-year-old commerce student of the Mulund College of Commerce when he clinched the contest in the youth boys and men’s categories in the Sixth Thana District Ranking Table Tennis Tournament in Vashi, New Bombay in September 2011. A month earlier, Tarapore­walla had won the youth boys title at the Thana state ranking tournament held in his home town.

"I think my biggest strength is my fighting spirit. I have won many matches from match point down. I never give up,” says the young man who was introduced to sport by his parents Ketayun and Khorezad who believed that "only studies and no play is no life for a child.” My parents first put me to into athletics, but I did not show much interest in it, he relates. His uncle used to play table tennis at office state level and he urged Zubin’s mother to try putting him into table tennis. Beginning to play the game at the age of 10, the lad realized he loved what he was doing. "But things did not go well. The place where I practised was shut down for reasons unknown. I tried another club and played there for several years. I was never pressured to win, so I just enjoyed the game. Even if I lost I used to say I enjoyed it (the event)!”

There have been many memorable matches in the last nine years of competitive play, he declares. He won the state men’s title in Nagpur in 2009. "I was the first Thana boy to do so and one of the youngest, so that was really encouraging.” He won individual titles at the university tournament in August at the University Pavilion at Marine Lines in Bombay. "My college won the inter-college event. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the life of any player. I was named captain of the Bombay University team. We won the silver medal at the west zone university tournament held in Madhya Pradesh in January 2011 and bronze at the all-India university tournament in Belgaum, Karnataka in February. His ranking (as of October 20, 2011, with the new season still to begin) was first in youth boys and men at the district level and third in youth boys and sixth in men’s at the state level. His all-India ranking was 28 in the youth boys and 58 in the men’s category, as per his profile. At the state championships in Buldhana at the end of October, he lost in the semi-finals, thus securing third place in the youth boys and losing in the pre quarters in the men’s group.

"I face many challenges. The facilities for this game are not much here, though they have improved a bit now. There are no proper table tennis halls, the tables have varied bounce, but after all these years I am used to it. I just love challenges so I don’t bother complaining about it!” says the experienced paddler who plays for the club known as Pro TT Academy at the Dadoji Kondev Stadium in Thana. Shiv Chhatrapati Award winner Mahendra Chiplunkar and Rajendra Sawant are his coaches. "I have full support from my family. When I lose, they don’t scold but encourage me to buck up for the next match! When I win, we celebrate but I am made to realize that there are greater heights to be achieved. This helps me stay down to earth but aim higher.”