Chinese coach hired to groom young table tennis players

KARACHI: Pakistan has hired the services of table tennis coach Chen Hua Chang of China initially for one year.“Yes, Chen has been hired for one year. The government has sanctioned his recruitment,” Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) president SM Sibtain told ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

He added that the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had to send visa to the coach. “The Board had to send him visa but I don’t know about it as I have not contacted the Board during the last few days,” Sibtain said.

Director General of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Dr Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera told ‘The News’ on Tuesday that Interior Ministry had asked for some credentials of the coach and the Board had forwarded them after getting them from the PTTF and in a few days everything would be finalised. “The interior ministry will write to us and we will write to China mission and will also inform the PTTF,” Ganjera said.

However, he was quick to add that all these were just formalities. Pakistan last hired the services of a foreign coach — a Korean — a decade ago. Sibtain said that Chen would be paid 2000 dollars a month.He said that he had proposed hiring the services of a foreign coach for three years.

Sibtain said that the federation had a well-thought out plan to benefit from the services of the foreigner. “We will hold a camp of ten-week each in four provinces and Islamabad which will be attended by age-group peddlers from under-12 and onwards. The foreigner will be assisted by local coaches who will thus also learn from him. And then the top crop of the respective regions will be handed over to the respective provincial associations. They will be trained persistently by the coaches who work with the foreigner,” he said.

After one year of hectic training, the top crop from across the country will be put in a national camp.The players will be groomed through a systematic engagement in the domestic competitions, he said.

Sibtain said that it would be a great achievement if after three years Pakistan were able to win a gold medal at least at the South Asian level.Next year Pakistan will feature in a few major events, including the World Team Championship in Sweden, Commonwealth Games in Australia and Asian Games in Indonesia.