Praneet Bhaskar still cannot forget those days last year when he was in great doubt about whether he would be able to continue with table tennis. 

Praneet came to prominence last year when he won a gold medal as a member of the title-winning under-19 Bengal team and also a bronze medal in the doubles event. Playing for Sports Authority of India (SAI) Kolkata in the Youth National Championship this year Praneet’s gratitude to his Angshuman sir for getting him out of mental misery also earned a bronze medal. 

But Praneet's journey with table tennis since the age of five years was under the tutelage of the well-known coaches. After learning the basics of the game from Shantanu Bandopadhyay, Praneeth trained under Raman in Chennai at his High-Performance Centre. 

After spending there for one-and-half years Praneet had to return to Kolkata and he joined Soumyadeep Roy's academy. Still, he was not finding noticeable improvement. 

He was losing at the pre-quarterfinal and quarterfinal level in most of the national-level competitions. His national ranking in the under-19 category did not rise up more than 22nd.

Indian table tennis fraternity seems to have maintained one of its traditional approaches where some students despite being passionate and hard-working are not cared for properly even at the renowned schools. Praneet also became one of the victims of the system.

The 18-year-old paddler said, "I almost planned to quit table tennis. I thought I should concentrate on studying and it would help me to build up my career finally. I was highly depressed at that time. It was around in 2022. I finally overcame the misery and bounced back only due to Angshuman sir and Ankur Bhattacharjee." 

The commerce student of 1st year St. Xavier’s College expressed huge gratitude for his current teacher Angshuman Bhattacharjee under whose tutelage Praneet has been training for the last six months.

“Angshuman sir’s training is special. He is very caring. He himself trains us with multi-ball practice. If the students make any mistake then he rectifies it by showing himself. When I was falling into mental depression Angshuman sir and Ankur dragged me out of the state and brought me back to the board through constant encouragement. After joining Angshuman sir's coaching my performance improved a lot than the previous years,” described Praneet.

Now his aim is to get into the men’s Bengal squad this year.