Mumbai's Table tennis champion was born premature with hole in his heart

Falcons TTCs Sanil Shetty reacts during a mens singles match in the Ultimate Table Tennis League game in Chennai recently PicPTIFrom receiving the ball as low as his knee and smashing unbelievable crosscourt winners that even the Chinese would want to learn table tennis exponent Sanil Shettys contribution to Falcons TTCs triumph in the inaugural CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis UTT was worthy of the highest praise Teamed up with Chinas Lee Ho Ching at the National Sports Club of India on Sunday Sanil won the hearts of his team owners spectators and of course the sponsorsAs many would expect champagne being popped and hiphop music as highlights of the afterparty the modest paddler chops assumptions to sizeTT player Sanil Shetty right with his brother SachinQuiet dinner with familyWe had a small team dinner as players had to catch their flight in the morning But tonight my entire family will go out for dinner Sanil a Malad resident saidSanil 28 the younger brother of Sachin a TT playerturnedcoach in the city is currently reaping the fruits of his hard work but the scene was very different two decades agoA premature baby born with a hole in his heart young Sanil was searching for inspiration to live I was taking homeopathy treatment till I was nine or 10 Doctors said that nothing could be done Our domestic help used to take me to school and bring me back home I had breathing problems as well But to improve my endurance and stamina I took to athletics Sanil recalled yesterdayIn 1998 the inspiration to play TT came from his father Shankar a bank manager Brother Sachin who was the Indian coach for RPSG Mavericks in the UTT also provided another doze of stimulation a cheeky one In 1998 Sachin brought home a huge trophy he won in a Mumbai University tournament I was inspired and told him that even I want this trophy Sanil said In fact he wanted to a win a bigger oneThus Sanils TT journey begun He was soon training at Andheris YMCA under Mumbais reputed coach Deepak Mani who produced many national championsConsidering the financial situation at home Sachin then decided to hang up his TT racquet and take up coaching when he was 21 just to mentor his little brother Ten years ago we didnt have that much support like we do now but my parents supported him a lot They gave him whatever he wanted and ensured he travelled in comfort Our priority at home was to give him exposure Sachin addedNational champ in 2014Since taking up the sport at the age of 10 Sanil rose to become Indias national table tennis champion in 2014 He was also the first player from Mumbai to achieve the feat since Kamlesh Mehta in 1995 Talking about the equation he shares with his brother Sanil said Sachin is nine years elder to me but he is more like a friend I dont have many friendsI spend time with my family He shares his problems with coaching and sometimes I help him out with solutions Thats how the Shetty brothers have become each others pillars Sanil has so far defeated World No 29 Aruna Quadri and World No 31 Apolonia Tiago to name a few while Sachin has coached many junior national champions recent ones including World No 30 Diya Chitale in U15 category who was part of the Indian team that amassed 24 medals in Jordan The job is far from over My dream is to play in the 2020 Olympics but before that I want to do well at the Commonwealth Games next year Sanil said And he is completely cured now I struggled with it till I was 11 Now I am completely fine and can run nonstop for three hours he said