13 May,2021 07:03 AM IST | Mumbai | Ronald Chettiar
Venugopal Chandrasekhar during his heyday. Pics/UTT
Table tennis Olympian Kamlesh Mehta believes the best way to describe his contemporary Venugopal Chandrasekhar is by calling him a "fierce fighter."
Three-time national champion Chandrasekhar, 63, lost his battle against Covid-19 in Chennai on Wednesday.
"He [Chandrasekhar] was a fierce fighter. He would never give up. He had the courage to take risks at crucial stages of a match. He was a very consistent player and technically very strong," said Mehta, an eight-time national champion.
Mehta, 61, won his first national championship by beating Chandrasekhar (3-0 in Indore 1983) after having lost the previous year (0-3 in Palghat, Kerala) to the Chennai-born paddler.
Recalling his association with Chandrasekhar, Mehta said: "Our journey started way back in 1978 and we were in touch till the day he was hospitalised. We played together for two years after which his career came to an end."
Chandrasekhar, who reached the semi-final of the 1982 Commonwealth Games, saw his career come to an abrupt end in 1984, following an unsuccessful knee surgery which resulted him in losing his vision and mobility. But that did not deter him from giving back to the sport.
"After the operation, when he was going through a very bad phase, he used to keep me informed about his treatment. So we were in constant touch throughout. Despite his limitations, he was always involved in improving his players. People with all their senses intact give in easily and here he was with lot of difficulties and limitations, but never gave up and went on contributing to the sport till his last breath," said Mehta, an Arjuna awardee himself (1985).
"After recovering, he started his academy, which was supported by Ultimate Table Tennis. A lot of good players like Chetan Baboor and G Sathiyan have emerged from his academy. In fact, he was at his academy on the day he was hospitalised," Mehta added.
Mehta even credited Chandrasekhar for improving his game. "He always told me to be patient on the table. I had this habit of hitting the ball early, so he used to tell me to focus on my forehand technique which improved my game. Though we did not have much international exposure during our time, whenever we used to go on a tour, we used to watch matches and try to memorise how the opponent plays since videos were not available," said Mehta, who is the director of the franchise-based UTT.
The former paddler, who played under Chandrasekhar, went on to captain him and said he was a through professional. "As a captain, he was very professional and clear in his mind. And when I was a captain, I never had difficulty in managing him," concluded Mehta.
Chandrasekhar is survived by his wife and son.
