Pakistan table tennis prodigy earns ITTF commendation

KARACHI: A 12-year-old Pakistan table tennis player Ummam Khawaja has earned seventh position out of 16 boys from the world who participated in the ITTF World Hopes Week and Challenge held in Doha from May 29 to June 4.

Ummam, who is from Swat, was the only Pakistani who had qualified for the programme. He had been accompanied by his coach Azhar Ahmed who runs an academy at Mingora.

In a letter written to the Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) president SM Sibtain the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Education and Training Coordinator Dejan Papic appreciated Ummam’s potential. “Generally Pakistani team (Ummam and his coach Azhar) has been impressive. I know that it is not only my opinion but also of all involved coaches and ITTF officials. Ummam’s level and especially his performance at the Challenge was much higher than we had anticipated,” Dejan wrote to Sibtain.

“I would say that his marks are consequence of the fact that he has practiced less than 50 percent of time. Evaluators were not able to see him in many training situations because he was struggling to have up to two hours of daily practice. It resulted in giving average marks (mostly 4-6).

His technical level, serve and receive game was easy to mark higher because he has shown some potential. May be more work on his backhand?” the letter said. “Potential is truly there but inconsistency is taking its toll,” the letter said.

“He managed to beat top seed Erik Huszvar of Hungary and also higher seeded Master Nuchchart of Thailand in Group I before losing to Daniel Ng of Singapore who finished last. Entering the knock-out stage as his group winner Ummam lost to Mohamed Sameh of Egypt in the quarter-finals while fighting hard 3-2. Playing for position 5-8 he earned seventh spot when he lost to Vishwa Deenadayalan of India 0-3 before beating Carlos Fernandez of Peru 3-2,” it added.

“It looks that he has grown a lot recently. This can be one of the reasons for his struggling during practice time, finding training load too high for his rapidly growing body. More attention to physical preparation is crucial at this stage of his development and would prevent injuries and fatigue,” it appended.

About his coach, Dejan said: “Azhar is a knowledgeable coach with strong coaching philosophy and good multi-balls feeding skills,” he said.

Sibtain said that Ummam would be sent to India for a similar programme in August. “We have several such kids and will try to work on them and prepare them for future national duty,” Sibtain told this correspondent.

He added that the federation was trying to hire the services of a North Korean coach through the support of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).