Kriraguru awardee table tennis coach Mihir Ghosh inaugurated Ankur Lovely Table Tennis Academy on Sunday. The academy, situated in the Rajarhat area, in North 24 Parganas, has three table tennis boards on a well-built infrastructure. 

Mihir Ghosh whose table tennis academy in Naihati has produced several international and national-level paddlers including Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee, expressed hope on the academy’s coach Angshuman Bhattacharjee stating, “His tireless work has produced the prodigy like Ankur Bhattacharjee who is fortunately his son also. I hope Angshuman’s guidance will produce more paddlers who will glorify Bengal and India in the future." 

Ghosh also thanked Nilotpal and his wife Priyanka Mukherjee for coming forward with support to establish the ALTTA.

Commenting on Ankur, Ghosh stated, “He is truly a prodigy. He is representing his generation of table tennis players in Bengal as we saw Nupur Santra, Ganesh Kundu, and Arup Basak earlier.”

When asked about Ankur’s chances in the men’s category he will have to take part from the next year, Ghosh explained, “His back-hand strokes are magnificent and that is his key ammunition. But he needs to strengthen his forehand top-spin and needs to bring more variation in service to compete in the men's category."

He continued, "Still, I believe that considering the potential and adaptability Ankur's performance will not decline in the men's also. He might falter initially but in the long-run, he will be winning competitions in the men's category in India. He also needs to take part in more international competitions in the men's category to sustain at that level." 

Local representatives from the state's ruling party were also present in the inaugural function and they made a promise to develop the infrastructure initially by installing an air-conditioned machine in the practice hall. 

For the first time in his successful journey so far, Ankur was rewarded with Rs 9 lakh by the state government recently.