With the Asian Championship coming up, the Table Tennis Federation of India and chief national coach Massimo Costantini have designed a 'unique' plan for India's men's and women's squads. The plan is to conduct the national training camp for the Indian contingent in China at the WTT Smash event in China. 

The China Smash begins on 26th September and ends on 6th October while the Asian Championships begin on 7th October in Astana, Kazakhstan. 

The logic is that the paddlers will not have to take the logistical headache of returning from Bejing to Bangalore to attend a national preparatory camp and fly out again to Astana. The paddlers will be able to take a direct flight from Beijing to Astana which is below six-hour travel while the paddlers would have had to travel for 11 hours from Bangalore (where the national camps are nowadays held) to Astana.

While speaking to Indian Express, Constantini revealed, “It will be unusual championships, where they are not only training for the ongoing tournament but also preparing for the next tournament. I don’t think it’s happened before. But this is the WTT calendar, and we have to adjust and adapt in the best way. Normally players take rest after their matches, but maybe – depending on their physical condition – there won’t be much time to rest.” 

The contingent size according to the Chief national coach will be about 18 people. If a player loses at a WTT event, he has to check out of the hotel the following day and isn’t allowed to train at the practice tables at the arena either. 

Instead of booking a separate training arena in Beijing, the TTFI has agreed to pay WTT a fee to allow the players to continue using the privileges.