Harmeet Desai is a big fan of tennis legend Rafael Nadal, who will be competing in his last Olympics in Paris.
The 30-year-old, a Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medallist, hopes to meet the 14-time French Open champion and former World No. 1 during the Olympics. “If I get a chance, I would definitely like to get a picture with him,” said Harmeet, ranked 64 in the world.
A key member of the Indian table tennis team at Paris Olympics along with Sharath Kamal, Harmeet’s performance will be watched with a lot of interest. As one who will be part of the men’s team, singles, and maybe doubles, Harmeet knows the weight of expectations and burden on his shoulders.
“Making it to quarters of the team event will be great for the sport and am keen to make quite a few upsets in singles as well,” Harmeet said.
In an exclusive interview, Harmeet speaks about India’s maiden qualification as a team in Olympics, Massimo Costantini’s influence, and his singles goals at Paris, amongst other things.
The team has been training for more than a week at Bengaluru. How has it been with coach Massimo Costantini?
Yeah. It has been quite good. I trained under him for the first time in 2009. And this time also, the experience has been good. The intensity he brings into the training camp is good and we’ve had some matches and we are practicing doubles, too. So it’s been quite good to train under him again.
Massimo is known for his man-management. What have you learned from the camp?
Max (Massimo) already has the plan and in his mind he’s clear. He has just started with us at the camp, but he has followed everyone’s recent past, read and watched our performances on YouTube.
He has his plans for the Olympics and we have been getting good support here with the video and match analysis, too. His plan is to give us the chance to practice doubles and singles because lately I haven’t played a lot of doubles with Manav Thakkar.
Doubles is very important in Olympics as it is the first match of the tie in the team event. Any special preparations?
Yeah. So, keeping that in mind, we are trying different partners. Max has planned a good roadmap till the Paris Olympics. There is huge emphasis on the roadmap.
We are focusing on tactical things because it’s difficult to change something and we don’t have much time, but we are working a lot on the strategic and tactical part which is helping us a lot. I last played doubles with Manav Thakkar in 2022. But I have had good results with him in the past. We won a medal in the Asian championship in 2021, but since 2022 we haven’t played much. It’s almost two years. Of late, Manav is partnering Manush Shah on the WTT (World Table Tennis) Tour. And I have been focusing on singles.
Manav has improved a lot in singles and doubles. And it will take a bit of time to get used to each other again. But we are practicing doubles. We are trying with different pairs because we have a healthy amount of sparing partners in the camp, and we will also get to play a couple of tournaments before Paris and get to know each other. We will have sufficient match practice going into the Olympics.
How does it feel competing in the Olympics in singles as well as the team event?
It’s really a special feeling, definitely, and every athlete wants to represent their country in the Olympics. It’s already been 24-25 years since I started playing table tennis. So, definitely I want to represent my country, and playing singles this time will be a cherry on the top.
The last one or two years have been really good for me, be it domestic or International. I would like to continue my form and aim to make a couple of upsets in the tournament.
What are your expectations from the team in Paris? How is the team environment?
It’s the very first time that the Indian team (men & women) has qualified for the Olympics. We have beaten many top teams. For example, we beat Japan in the 2018 Asian Games for the bronze medal. If all three of us (Sharath, Manav & I) can play really good table tennis — Manav has been quite consistent in the recent past — we can definitely reach the quarterfinals, and if our form is really good, we can also make it to semifinals.
Now tell me about your singles form. You had some good victories over top 20 players, especially in the WTT Contender in Lagos in 2023 and the World team championships in February 2024. What are the aspects you’re focusing on in the camp?
I am trying to make my strengths even sharper and make it inconvenient for my opponent to play. My goal will be to try and create a few upsets. The bigger aim is to focus more and more on my confidence and on my tactics going into the Olympics.
Can you shed some more light on the camp?
We are working on doubles, as I said. Individually I’m working a lot on my service return and first-ball return. That will be the main thing in the high pressure matches at Paris.
How do you see Sathiyan’s absence in the team since he is the fourth member?
Sathiyan will be with us. As you know, he’s going to Paris as the fourth player, but we won’t have the option of playing him. We definitely will miss Sathiyan. But like I said earlier, Manav has been doing quite well. He has been constantly beating top 100 players in the recent past. He played really well in Lebanon, and also many other WTT contender and Feeder tournaments. I’m very optimistic that we can make an impact in Paris.
Earlier, there had been controversies regarding personal and official coaches during National camps. What is your take on it?
I think it has been managed quite well because there are personal coaches in the camp now. Aman Balgu (personal coach of Manika Batra) and Somnath Ghosh (personal coach of Sreeja Akula) are there in the camp. So, there are personal coaches and the balance has been set quite well. Ultimately, it is Max who calls the shots.
The Indian team is making its debut at Paris. What does this mean for players of your generation and next?
It’s the first time ever that there are two Indian athletes almost ranked in the Top 40 in the women’s section. For the first time in the history, we have four male players almost in the top 60 (fourth player Sathiyan is 70 now) of the world rankings. This kind of achievement will help the sport to grow and attract more youngsters. There are so many good things happening: there is the UTT league and the support we are getting from the State Governments, the Khelo India, and TOPS scheme. Many corporates are coming to the sport. I think there is scope to grow.
Sharath Kamal has been the team’s leader for more than a decade. He will be competing in his fifth Olympics. Do you see him more as a competitor or as a mentor. How is your relationship with the veteran paddler?
When we are in the team, I don’t look at him as a competitor. It’s quite inspiring and also there are so many things to learn from him even when we are practising. It’s really good that he can share his experience. It’s important to support and help each other, and learn from each other. That’s my point of view.
This is your debut Olympics. Are you feeling the pressure?
No. Playing the Olympics is very special for every sportsperson as they are representing their country. But I have played three Commonwealth Games, one Asian Games, and three Asian championships. So, this is not new to me. Representing the country in the Olympics has been my dream. I just want to go there and play my best and bring laurels for the country.
What are your immediate thoughts on Olympics?
I just want to go out there, play freely and play my best game in the best manner possible. If I can make couple of upsets in the singles event because our matches start with singles followed by the team events. I want to go far in the main singles event and if, if I can do that, it will give me a lot of confidence for the team event, and I hope that we can make it to the men’s team quarterfinals. This would set a benchmark for the next Olympics.
