Commonwealth Games 2018 | Win boosts team confidence: Madhurika Patkar

Try and try till you succeed, they say. India table tennis player Madhurika Patkar’s success at the Commonwealth Games, where she won gold, has proved this idiom.  

After losing to Singapore team twice in 2010 and 2014, she finally beat them in the finals.  Encouraged by this, she is now hopeful of making it to the semifinals of world championship to be held in Sweden.

After landing here on Tuesday, Patkar said, “It feels really good to have won gold for our country.  Today women are going ahead in every field and this year more women have made our country proud by performing well in the CWG.”

Born in 1987 in Thane, Patkar held table tennis racket for the first time at the age of five and hasn’t let it go after that.  Today her hard work has paid off and she said that the CWG gold medal has opened many doors for her.

“This win has given the confidence to our Indian team that we can do well.  We need to work harder for the world championship and I am sure we will reach the semifinals there,” she said.

Thane is a hub of art, culture and sports and she thinks the city can produce more sports stars provided the government steps in.  “I have been coached in Thane by Shailaja Gohad since childhood and I think Thane has the potential to offer world class coaching to sportsmen with the government’s help.”