Ankur Bhattacharjee, India's number one-ranked table tennis player in both the Under-17 and under-19 age group, has been selected in the Youth Indian men's squad to participate in the BRICS table tennis championship which will its first edition in Durban, South Africa from 18th to 21st October. The five countries, Brazil, China, Russia, South Africa, and India will take part in the competition. 

Significantly, one of the rising stars in Indian table tennis has very recently shifted to Chinese rubber Harricane-3-Neo-Blue Sponge on his forehand while he has been using Chinese rubber (Hurricane-3 Neo-Orange Sponge) for the last couple of years. The purpose is to take his game to the highest level. Even, in a bid to make a solid preparation Ankur practices on the table tennis board of the renowned Chinese company DHS, especially before any international competition.

Ankur explained, “Chinese and Korean paddlers are undoubtedly superb. They are grammatically superior also and their game is heavily influenced by these rubbers. The legendary Chinese paddlers including Ma Long use these rubbers. But mastering the game with this rubber is not easy. You need to be physically strong, more precisely technically superior.”

Simultaneously, he firmly claimed, “If you drive yourself into such a meticulous training system then I believe, Chinese and Koreans, even at the senior level are not unplayable. If you go through the recent statistics, you will find our top paddlers like G. Sathiyan, Sharath Kamal, and especially Harmeet Desai have defeated top Chinese paddlers."

The 16-year-old paddler recently won bronze in the under-17 singles in the WTT Youth Contender in Bangkok. Ankur explained, “I also beat Chinese paddlers in previous competitions. Even I beat the same paddlers whom I lost in Bangkok. So, it is not that they cannot be beaten.” 

Ankur however has started setting focus on the senior level. That is why he stated, "It could have been better for me to take part in the forthcoming national ranking second zonal championship in Thiruvananthapuram as I would have participated in the men's event there. I am currently ranked sixth in the men's category. I need to improve it. But due to the BRICKS championship, I will not be able to play there."

Ankur who is excited to get the opportunity to play in South Africa for the first time, revealed that now his focus after returning from South Africa will be on National Games and perform in the men’s category.