Experience Pro Table Tennis with this YouTube Channel

Table Tennis with Champions (TTWC) is the rapidly growing YouTube channel and brainchild of Vishwa Kalra, a young finance entrepreneur and avid table tennis fanatic from Kaithal in Northern India. Assisting him in his vision is long-time friend, and Table Tennis partner Abhishek Meena, a lawyer, law professor, and equally keen Table Tennis devotee hailing from Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Despite being only one year old the channel is already closing in on 2.3 million views. TTWC seeks to differentiate itself from other Table Tennis channels by its POV (Point Of View) format, which allows subscribers a unique player’s eye view of the game as it’s played. The inspiration comes from fellow YouTubers Bat aur Ball explains Vishwa “I was just browsing and came across a Cricket POV channel. The batsman had a GoPro mounted on his head during a match. It felt like I was there, facing the fast bowlers! I immediately called Abhishek and said ‘why don't we do this POV video thing, but with Table Tennis. We can tour all the parts of the country and play against top players while wearing a POV camera.’”.

Now the duo do exactly that, going toe-to-toe with the best Table Tennis players India has to offer, and the channel is quickly building a reputation as the go-to platform for people looking to find out how professional Table Tennis players play. The pair have now played against some of India's biggest names like Abhishek Yadav, Vivek Bhargava, and Sarthak Seth.

However, there’s a stronger motive at play than just playing the best Table Tennis players in India. Like most children brought up in provincial towns Vishwa didn’t have access to the sort of training that could have made a difference to his development. “There was no coach for Table Tennis in our school. I taught myself by watching YouTube Videos and then I’d practise the concepts during lunch breaks” recalls Vishwa.

Despite these setbacks, he still managed to represent the school at State and National level. Then upon meeting the 'Crazy for Table Tennis' Abhishek at college in Delhi they paired up and won several inter-college tournaments together, but Vishwa claims a love of Ping Pong is not all they share “[Abhishek] is just like me, he also came from a background with no proper coaching and so no chance to play with top players”.

Indian Table Tennis stars of tomorrow Priyanuj Bhattacharya, Sayanika Maji and Jiya Jain who have also been featured in the initiative suggest that there’s a gold mine of untapped young talent, and the pair believe there’s a tremendous opportunity to forge inroads into the sport, elevating the profile of Table Tennis throughout the sub-continent using YouTube. In doing so they not only hope to inspire young Indians to pick up a paddle, and help demolish the barriers that hindered them as they were growing up, but in turn support the country’s vast potential on the world stage.

So far TTWC has visited 30 venues including Stag Table Tennis Academy in Delhi, known as the home of Olympian Manika Batra. Former National team coach Deepak Malik’s Pinnacle Academy in Gurgaon and the Anshul Garg Academy in Noida, founded by the former national silver medalist and UP state champion himself.

Vishwa and Abhishek aim to continue their promotion of the game in a town or city near you, so make sure to subscribe to their YouTube channel and head down to your nearest Table Tennis Club as you might just bump into them.

Disclaimer : The above is a sponsored article and the views expressed are those of the sponsor/author and do not represent the stand and views of The Tribune editorial in any manner.