Post-Suzhou 2015: Soumyajit Ghosh

This is the second short interview in my post World Championships 2015 series. My first was published yesterday with Patrick Franziska. This time I had the chance to ask some questions of a rising star in the sport, Soumyajit Ghosh from India. It was a pleasure, enjoy the questions below!

India's Soumyajit Ghosh

What was your preparation like for Suzhou? Where did you train and how was it different to your usual training regime?

Before Suzhou I was in India for the National Training Camp and I was in Sweden playing for a whole year so I believe both places helped me with my performance and results. I was just fresh before Suzhou and telling myself to give my best in all of my matches. I had a normal every day schedule before Suzhou also, I think it's a continuing process.

You had a fantastic win early on against Quadri Aruna from Nigeria. How did it feel to beat Aruna and was that a huge boost to your confidence?

Yes I was in shape in the last few months and I have been playing ok table tennis and beating good players around the world, so I had good confidence for playing Aruna. Also I know him well because we practiced in Qatar a few months ago so I was prepared and had tactics to catch him and it went well. I was happy to beat him.

In the first round India's players had some great results. What do you think is helping improve India's level on the World Stage?

Yes this is the first time that 3 Indian players are making the main draw and then also 2nd and 3rd round (with Kamal). I think we are improving and we just need to focus on bringing high level table tennis in India. I believe if India is good at table tennis then we will receive more help as I know we are good at badminton now so financially World Badminton is growing very fast because of India. I believe India is a big country so from there many things can happen but we need to perform, only then will it happen.

Congratulations on making the top 100 players in the world for the May Rankings. How does it feel to make the top 100 players in the world at position 95?

Yes I feel good and the same time I feel I have more responsibility and hope on me. That's telling me to enjoy the journey and to work harder. It was nice journey and I think I can go ahead consistently to top 50 which is my target now. I just need to give it 100% every day and enjoy table tennis journeys.

Moving on from WTTC is top 50 your next goal? What is your next focus?

My target is to reach the top 50 as soon as possible. I will play the Philippines Open and Australian Open at the end of May and try to improve my world ranking there and win these tournaments.

Best of luck in Philippines and Australia Soumy and we look forward to seeing you in the top 50 players in the world in no time! :)