Table tennis talent Satya Aspathi, 15, showed grit and determination to brush aside a new rule by the Table Tennis Federation of India and make a mark representing USA in the recent WTT ranking tournament (under-15) in Vadodara and bagged a silver too.
Aspathi was born in the US in December 2010, and a few years later her family shifted to Hyderabad (both parents are software engineers and now settled in Hyderabad).
After getting a feel of the sport at the well-known Gujarati Seva Mandal under the mentorship of Venugopal, Nagaraj and Chaitanya, she made an impact and started winning titles, including the State championship, getting the better of the likes of the more experienced players.
However, when everything seems to be falling into place, the new rule that any player with a foreign passport cannot represent India, Aspathi has the challenging option – to surrender her US passport which she has or is a frequent visitor, play tournaments there to make it to the US team or stop playing.
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But given her passion, the parents preferred to let her continue visiting and playing for the US.
“Well, the ultimate objective now is to see her represent the US in the 2028 Olympics. She has the talent to make it really big,” says coach Somnath Ghosh at whose Khelo India-accredited Ctrl-S-UTT Somnath Ghosh Table Tennis Academy where she has been training for the last two years.
Interestingly, Aspathi was ranked second in the under-15 and 17 years age group national selection trials in the US.
“We (after discussing with the parents) decided to let her put in the effort to keep looking ahead with a chance to represent the US in international events. That is more important to improve the world rankings too,” said Somnath, who also mentored Sreeja Akula from her childhood.
“Yes, it is a gamble but we decided to invest in her talent and have strong belief she can make it. Once she starts winning, we hope the sponsors too will line up,” he said.
Aspathi also thanked her assistant coach Arpan Dutta, fitness trainer Hirak Bagchi, the Pallavi Model School and its principal for all the support to let her focus on the sport
