Winning World TT Team gold best moments of my life: Desai

Harmeet Desai, Gujarat's most well known table tennis player, is on a roll. After winning the doubles gold for India at the Commonwealth TT Championships in December 2015 (with Soumyajit Ghosh), Harmeet recently helped India in creating history at the World Table Tennis Team Championships held at Kuala Lumpur.
Both the Indian men's and women's teams won gold medals for the very first time at the championships (in the second division), and Harmeet played a stellar role in the final against Brazil, bailing out the Indian team from a near hopeless situation.Harmeet, who starred with two crucial victories in the allimportant final, says, “This is certainly one of the best moments of my life. It's an amazing feeling and the fact that my wins helped the team makes it extra special. I have been playing well of late and every international medal that I win (he has won over 20 gold medals for India) is a big step towards my dream of getting into the top 100 in rankings, which I hope to accomplish by 2017. It's just a matter of time and with more experience, I will be more consistent in international tournaments.“
Harmeet is happy that a lot of promising table tennis players are coming up from Gujarat and says, “It's not just TT, but Gujarat is producing a number of quality sportspersons. The new sports policy of the Gujarat government is a good initiative and with more competition, the quality of players will only keep getting better.“
Harmeet has had to make sacrifices to reach where he is today . For about five to six months in a year, he has to stay abroad (Austria, he has trained in Sweden earlier).The youngster tells us, “I really miss my family, home food and my comfortable social life when I have to be away from Surat. But I am used to the routine now.“
Had it not been for his father, Harmeet may never have taken up table tennis. He fondly remembers, “My dad was very enthusiastic about table tennis and he had bought a TT table so that he could play with his friends at home. I started playing the game and soon, I got addicted. I didn't have to look back since.“
When he isn't busy practising, Harmeet loves “hanging out with friends, reading and watching films.“ He adds, “I am also pursuing my LLB degree, but since I keep travelling so much for my sport, it is never easy and I had to skip semester exams because I was abroad. Table tennis is top priority for me but I will surely complete my studies one day .“