Costantini.
| Photo Credit: File Photo: S. Siva Saravanan
Italy’s Massimo Costantini’s return to the Indian table tennis team (men and women) as foreign coach appears very bright.
“We have shortlised Massimo among four coaches. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is processing the names as per its norms. An International Committee of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) was formed to shortist the coaches,” said a source to The Hindu on Wednesday.
The 66-year-old Italian was the Indian coach on two previous occasions, from 2009 to 2010 and from 2016 to 2018. During this period, India won a record eight medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and two bronze medals at the 2018 Asian Games. Massimo has been liked and admired by quite a few Indian players including 10-time National champion Sharath Kamal.
There are huge expectations that the former Italian International will take charge of the Indian team before the Paris Olympics. After Massimo left in 2018, the team hasn’t had the services of a foreign coach.