Asian desk tennis | Good begin from the younger crop: Costantini on Indian mens groups quarterfinal end

Minutes after Ankur Bhattacharjee’s five-game loss to Lam Siu Hang of Hong Kong (China), which sealed India’s quarterfinal exit within the Asian desk tennis staff championships, younger captain Manav Thakkar turned to go coach Massimo Costantini and stated softly: “Sorry, coach.”

The Italian veteran, although, wasn’t having any of it. “Don’t really feel sorry,” he advised Manav and the remainder of the staff. “You gave your greatest.”

No surprise then that Costantini sounded something however disillusioned after India’s males didn’t safe a medal for the primary time in 4 editions.

“I’m not disillusioned. It was a balanced match. We misplaced two video games by an in depth margin of 3-2. At the top it’s 3-0, I perceive. And no excuses,” Costantini advised The Hindu.

“I didn’t count on a lot — the staff is younger, with massive accountability on them. First time, increase, they’re in a quarterfinal, defending a medal they didn’t even win final yr. Both Ankur and Manush (Shah) had been enjoying for the primary time. They stated, ‘sorry coach, we tried.’ And I’m proud of the hassle. They did their job, they tried. I knew the match was robust. We misplaced, however I believe this was begin from the younger crop.”

Costantini, who has overseen a number of generations of Indian paddlers, admitted that his subsequent process can be to work on the staff’s psychological fortitude because it begins life after the retirement of stalwart A. Sharath Kamal.

“Sharath is a pacesetter. Now we now have to work to make another person a pacesetter. Legacy will not be a straightforward process,” he stated.

“It takes time to develop mentally. Tactically and technically, they’re doing nice issues. But mentally, you might have 1,000,000 ideas throughout a match — ‘what if I lose? what if my nation, my staff…?’ How you handle these feelings — that’s my job, to make them prepared for the subsequent time,” Costantini emphasised.