This Article is From Nov 22, 2009

Follow India: Ex Bangla national champion's call

Lucknow: With table tennis struggling for its survival in Bangladesh, former national champion of the neighbouring country Al Mostafa Billah calls the federation back home to follow the Indian format to resuscitate the game in the South Asian nation.

Billah, a former student of Netaji Subhash Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala, feels Bangladesh table tennis should follow the structure of India to revive the indoor sport in the country.

"The condition of table tennis in Bangladesh is not very good. Lack of professionalism is the main problem there. The game is battling for survival. I think, we should follow the Indian structure to set things right," Billah said.

In the absence of institutional back-ups, who provide with job security to the talented players and help them groom, table tennis as a profession is not that lucrative in Bangladesh, rued Billah.

"In India, players get the institutional support what lacks in Bangladesh. Also, the domestic league structure is weak. And soaring popularity of cricket has added to the problem.

"We are now trying to reshape the condition there and seriously need India's help to achieve the target," said Billah on the sideline of the 19th Asian Table Tennis Championships here.

Billah is here with his brother and sister-in-law, who are also members of the 10-member Bangladesh team participating in the prestigious event.

The 2005 national champion of Bangladesh expressed his happiness over his nation's performance in the tournament and hoped this will give much required boost to the game back home.

"The performance we have produced this time is probably the best in the history of our country's table tennis. We have beaten teams like Laos, Jordan, Nepal and given quite tough fight to others as well.

"Our federation is also very happy with the performance. I earnestly hope this success would help the cause of the game back home. So we are returning with some positives from the event," he said.

Billah, who also has few years' coaching experience under his belt, wants more Indians to play in their domestic clubs in order to improve the standard of their own players.

"Several Indian paddlers, specially from Kolkata have played on our soil and I hope that the practice would continue in the coming days. It will certainly help our cause," he said.

"We are expecting some good performance in next year's Asian Games (in China) to start with the revival process. And yes, we would also come back to India for the Commonwealth Games (in Delhi)," Billah signed off.
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