‘Mallika continuing family legacy’
| Date :15-May-2020 |
By Mahesh S Kale :
A TRUE champion is someone who recognises one’s natural talent, work one’s tail off to develop them into skills, and further uses these skills to accomplish one’s goals. Just like city’s ace table tennis player Mallika Bhandarkar, who, with her extraordinary talent and perseverance, clinched several major achievements like representing the Asian Team that won gold at the World Championship in Japan and being the first Indian to represent India in Youth Olympics in 2010. Mallika has also represented the Indian team at the GAC World Tour Austrian Open in Wels, GAC World Tour Belgium Open in De Haan, SAF Games (Dehradun), Asian Juniors (China), Spanish Junior Open (Spain), Junior Open Championship (Slovakia), French Junior Open, UAE Juniors and Indian Junior Open in Mumbai among others. The right-handed paddler, who has won more than hundred national medals, always had table tennis in her blood. “We never asked Mallika to play TT, I think it was something which she inherited from us. Even her maternal grandfather Dr Amrut Patwardhan was a table tennis player.
From top: Advocate Shrirang Bhandarkar, Adv Anjali Bhandarkar, Mallika and Kadambari.
For Mallika, I think, TT was in her blood. She is continuing family legacy,” said father Advocate Shreerang Bhandarkar who himself was a national-level table tennis player and also the founder of Titan Table Tennis Club in Nagpur that was established in 1986. Mallika, the only player in Maharashtra to win four categories — cadet girls, sub-junior girls, junior girls and women’s titles — started playing table tennis from the age of five and soon started dominating state and national championships. “Mallika began her journey at the age of five and two years later she bagged her first district-level championship in Under-12 cadet girls category.
At the tender age of eight she won her first state championship while Mallika got her first national championship when she was 10 years old,” her mother Anjali proudly told ‘The Hitavada’. She added, “Shreerang knew from the very beginning that she had the spark and talent for the game. It was Shreerang who played a pivotal role in making Mallika what she is today. Despite attending courts and looking after his office, he always used to practice with Mallika to make sure she improved her technique with each passing day.” Anjali also mentioned about the struggles and sacrifices she had to make as a mother during Mallika’s initial sporting career.
“As Mallika started winning state and national championships from an early age, it became mandatory for me to travel with her during the tournaments. I used to travel with her all the year round looking after her safety, diet and studies etc. I guess it’s almost over 13 years that I have been continuously travelling with Mallika as I never wanted her to miss any tournament. I was with her even when she went to Canada for her first International meet in 2006. On top of it I also had to look after my three-year-old younger daughter Kadambari, my in-laws and my own law career. I think it was all possible due to the huge family support,” said Anjali. Mallika, the only player to win Open Nationals, School Nationals, CBSE Nationals in a single year, has made the country and state proud on many occasion.
“Mallika winning her first national tourney was very special because of two reasons. Firstly, it was the beginning of her incredible journey and secondly people got to know about Nagpur city. People at Puducherry were expecting someone from either Pune or Mumbai but I am glad that Mallika made the city proud,” Anjali claimed. She added, “People normally concentrate on the glory but they never realise the amount of hard work that one has put in. Mallika has sacrificed her youth and social life and everything else for table tennis and I am happy that TT has paid her back with name and fame,” she concluded.