Jaiswal completes 25 years in circuit without a fuss

AHMEDABAD: There was no major celebration or media circus, and no bubbly flowed - silently, Jignesh Jaiswal became the first player to represent Gujarat consecutively for 25 years in senior nationals table tennis competitions.
Thirty-eight-year-old Jaiswal is getting ready for yet another state-ranking tournament, scheduled to be played in Godhra from June 11. He says he is enjoying the game like he did when he first held a racquet 30 years ago.The thought of retirement hasn't crossed his mind yet. Rather, he wants to continue playing alongside his daughter, Namna, and see her doing well.
In a rare instance, father and daughter featured in the nationals in the same year, 2014, when Namna played in cadet nationals in Andhra Pradesh and Jaiswal played in the senior nationals in Pondicherry. Both Namna and Jaiswal have been playing in the state circuit from 2013 onwards. Namna is now part of the Sports Authority of Gujarat (SAG) residential academy in Bhavnagar and practises under the Korean coach Jong Son An.
"Namna is the top seed in cadet girls in Gujarat and she is ranked among the top eight in India," that's what the proud father said before going on to talk about his achievements, which include three National Games and six senior national medals for the state. Jaiswal has also competed in all senior nationals as one of the top three seeds in the state. For most part, he has been the top seed or the second seed. For 10 long years, he was in the top 16 of India rankings. He was in the India probables' camp for the world championships in 2005 but back pain dashed his chances of qualifying.
When asked about his major achievements, Jaiswal said: "I have beaten everybody in India except India No. 1 Sharath Kamal. Once I was leading 10-7 in the decider but couldn't pull off a win." He went on to say: "But I think my major achievement has been to continue playing at the top of my game for so long."
Jaiswal then said: "When I got married to Karna in 2003, lot of people said that my game will fall gradually. But my wife proved lucky for me and I became the top seed in Gujarat that year." She has been his biggest fan and support, he said. "I don't get time for family, friends or to even take care of household duties," he said. "But my wife has managed everything so perfectly that I couldn't have asked for a better companion."
Now an assistant manager in the LCPC department of SBI Bhavnagar, Jaiswal - who got is job under the sports quota - is all praise for his employer for making his life easy as a player.
"Table tennis was not a recognized sport in our bank," Jaiswal said. "But in 2010, I gave a presentation to my management on my achievements and they promptly agreed to grant me special leave whenever there was a tournament." But things were not so rosy at State Bank of Saurashtra when he had to take leave for all his sports engagements and spend from his pocket. But their merger with SBI in 2008 changed it all.
"Whatever I have achieved so far is because of my hard work and support from friends, family and the state association," Jaiswal said. "I practice for two hours every day and in hindsight, I think, I could have achieved much more if only I could have practiced for six to seven hours like paddlers from other states do." But, that apart, he said he was very happy and had no regrets. He still dreams of representing the country someday but that he leaves to destiny.
"If I am destined, I will play for the country, but I am not thinking too much about it and will continue to play as long as I am enjoying the game," said Jaiswal.