Amalraj's date with the legend!

A casual chat with Anthony Amalraj last week:

Me: Hi, how are u? All good in Poland?

AA: Neha, I am so happy today.

Me: Wow, what’s the reason? Please share...

AA: I beat Persson.

Me: Wait, you mean you beat Jorgen Persson, one of the legends of table tennis?

AA: Yes, exactly him :-)

I couldn't help but write this!

Jorgen Persson has competed in 7 Olympic Games. He is 5 times world champion for team Sweden, twice World Cup winner, World champion in singles, European champion in singles, team and doubles. In short, he is a legend. A living legend. Although, he has retired from competitive sport, but continues to play in the Polish league for the club ZKS Palmiarnia Zielona Gora.

Amalraj beat Jorgen Person in a thrilling 3-1 victory, in the Polish league where he plays for the club AZS Politechnika.

So after the news of Sharath Kamal beating Kreanga Kalinikos this December, the news of Amalraj beating Persson, the legend, has bought smiles on the faces of a lot of TT lovers all over India.

So what would one do after beating a legendary table tennis player like Persson? Here’s what Amalraj did (his signature move after winning) - jumping high in excitement, as high as he can, refusing to stop until his satisfaction.  Have a look...

Beating Jorgen Persson was surely a dream come true for Amalraj, who as a kid, used equipment named after Persson, and watched a lot of his matches on TV and learnt from his game.

Amalraj and Persson sharing a light moment after the match

 2014 has been an amazing year for Amal, who currently lives and trains in Rzeszow, Poland.

He won the Silver Medal in the Commonwealth Games in Men’s doubles along with Sharath Kamal in August this year. The very humble Amalraj attributes his success to coach Peter Engel. Peter was sure that the combination of Kamal and Amal would be a deadly one, a partnership that would surely win us a medal in the CWG. The duo delivered as expected, making the entire nation so proud!

Amalraj's signature jump after winning the Men's doubles semi finals

 at the CWG, Glasgow

We spoke at lengths about how Chennai welcomed him after his victory in Glasgow. “I was on cloud nine. For 4 days I barely slept. I haven’t met so many people in my life till now than I met in those 4 days. I was a hero suddenly. The response from the TN government was laudable. Our efforts have been recognized, this is great for our sport”

"Oh, I also go to meet Sachin Tendulkar!!!"

 Amal has been playing incredibly good in the Polish league which has become stronger this season because of addition of many top world ranked players like Hok Sang Yun(Korea), Cheng Wiexing( Austria), Yoshida Kaii( Japan), Wang Chung Tin( Hong Kong) and many more.

He has won 8 out of 14 matches till now, completing a successful first half of the league.

Amalraj is all excited to finally play the National Championship in Pondicherry in January 2015.

“I have missed the entire domestic season. It’s a great feeling to play in India, because the kind of love and support I get there is overwhelming”.

We all are excited as well; National Championship is the only tournament where we see the best of all Indians competing among each other.

Can he win the nationals? The clock is ticking, 3 more weeks to go!

Good luck, Anthony Amalraj.