Soumyajit Ghosh (born 10 May 1993) is an Indian table tennis player from Siliguri, West Bengal.[1] He was the youngest Indian player to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[2] He also became the youngest national champion at the age of 19, when he defeated Sharath Kamal in the 74th National Table Tennis Championships.[3]
| Soumyajit Ghosh | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ghosh (left) at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Baban | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Indian | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 10 May 1993 Siliguri, India | ||||||||||||||
Table tennis career | |||||||||||||||
| Playing style | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Personal
editGhosh hails from a middle-class family in Siliguri. His father Hari Sankar Ghosh works for the local municipal corporation. His mother Mina Ghosh is a homemaker. Soumyajit is an only child. In India he trains at the NIS base in Patiala under coach Bhawani Mukherjee. When abroad, he trains under coach Peter Karlsson in Falkenberg, Sweden. Ghosh is the Indian number 1 in table tennis as per the world ranking (Nov 2016).[4] He was world number 63, as of November 2016.
Career
editEarly career
editIn 2010, Ghosh won mixed doubles bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in Bahrain. He was instrumental in helping the India national team clinch a bronze medal in the World Junior Championships in 2011, by winning both his singles matches against South Korea in the quarter-finals.[5] He was also an integral part of the team that won the Asian Junior Championships in 2011.[6]
2013
editIn 2013, Ghosh created history by becoming the youngest national champion ever by beating six-time champion Sharath Kamal in the finals of the 74th National Table Tennis Championships.[7] He followed that up by winning the singles event at the Inter Institutional Table Tennis Championships in Dharwad, Karnataka.[8] He also won the singles event in the U-21 category at the Brazil Open in Santos.[9]
2014
editAt the Lusofonia Games, 2014 in Goa, Ghosh won gold medal in mixed doubles and men's team event as well as a silver and bronze in men's singles and doubles respectively.[10] He was also a quarter finalist at the Senior National Ranking Table Tennis Championships in Patna, 2014.[11] At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow Ghosh reached the quarter finals of both men's singles and doubles. He also reached the semis of the team event.[12]
2015
editAt the WTTC 2015, Soumyajit reached R64 by beating Quadri Aruna.
2016
editOn 14 April 2016, Soumyajit Ghosh qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics.[13] However, he made a first round exit in the men's individual event losing to Padasak Tanviriyavechakul of Thailand.[14]
2017
editOn 30 April 2017, Soumyajit Ghosh won the ITTF Challenge Seamaster Chile Open singles event, by beating compatriot Anthony Amalraj in the final. This was his first ITTF Pro title and he became the third Indian to win an ITTF event.
Controversy
editHe was placed under provisional suspension and dropped from the Indian Team and replaced by Sanil Shetty for the 2018 Commonwealth Games after a complaint of rape was filed against him by an 18-year-old teenager in Barasat, West Bengal.[15][16] He has denied the allegations.[17] He later married the girl who accused him of rape.[18][19]
References
edit- ^ http://www.tabletennisbug.com/2010/10/table-tennis-player-profile-soumyajit.html Table Tennis player profile: Soumyajit Ghosh
- ^ Ankita Das and Soumyajit Ghosh are the youngest Indian players to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics
- ^ Soumyajit Ghosh becomes youngest national table tennis champ
- ^ TTFI Rankings
- ^ Soumyajit Ghosh looks forward to London 2012
- ^ Soumyajit, Ankita book London berth
- ^ GHOSH YOUNGEST MEN'S CHAMP
- ^ GHOSH, SHAMINI ARE CHAMPIONS
- ^ Soumyajit, Manika win Brazil Open titles
- ^ Lusofonia Games, Table Tennis Archived 19 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Defending champion Ghosh ousted
- ^ Glasgow, 2014
- ^ "South Asian Olympic Qualifiers: Indian table-tennis aces Soumyajit Ghosh, Manika Batra book Rio berths - Firstpost". Firstpost. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
- ^ "TT Players Mouma, Manika, Soumyajit and Kamal Lose in 1st Round". The Quint. 7 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
- ^ Krishnakanta Chakraborty (1 April 2018). "2018 Commonwealth Games: Sanil Shetty replaces Soumyajit Ghosh". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
- ^ Rakesh Rao (23 March 2018). "Soumyajit Ghosh provisionally suspended". The Hindu. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
- ^ "CWG 2018: Tainted Soumyajit Ghosh left behind, India's 9-member table tennis squad leaves for Gold Coast". DNA India. 30 March 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
- ^ "Married to girl who accused him of rape, table tennis player Soumyajit Ghosh picking up pieces". The Indian Express. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
- ^ "Married to girl who accused him of rape, paddler Ghosh picking up pieces". The Times of India. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.