In his debut in the BRICS table tennis championship held in Durban South Africa recently, Ankur Bhattacharya's medal-winning performance did not stop. He acquired three bronze medals, with the boys' team, in the doubles event and the singles. 

It continued as after returning to Trivandrum straight from Durban, Bengal's prodigious paddler clinched the gold medal in the under-19 singles event of the national ranking tournament trouncing Tamil Nadu’s S.R Piyesh.

Now, Ankur eyes for another gold medal in the forthcoming National Games table tennis championship, starting from 28th October in Goa. 

While speaking about his gains in the BRICS table tennis, the Bengal's prodigious 17-year-old paddler revealed the key achievement in BRICS table tennis championship he earned in Durban was the victory against China's number one paddler Huang Youzheng in a qualifier. 

However, Huang qualified from another group and reached the final before winning the singles title. Ankur also lost to a Chinese paddler in the last four. Even, Ankur was the lone winner in the team event as they had to be content with the bronze medal also.

Ankur stated, “I am happy that I was the only Indian paddler in the semi-final along with three other Chinese paddlers. Secondly, I feel the appreciation from Chinese coach Zhai Jiale also a gift for me. The Indian coaches who accompanied us to South Africa were highly impressed also. After returning to Trivandrum they said to my father that they were extremely happy to have seen my performance.” 

Ankur added, "If I can maintain the standard of the game I delivered in Durban, I will be able to win the desired gold.”