Indian table tennis suffered a big blow after their foreign coach Massimo Costantini decided to not renew his contract with the Indian team following personal reasons. MP Singh, the secretary of Table Tennis Association of India said that Massimo got other offers by International Table Tennis Federation and that he wanted to spend more time with his family.
“He had some issues with his restaurant back home in Italy. He also got an offer from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) to work as high performance director. Another reason was that he wanted to spend more time with family,” Singh told PTI as reported by Times of India.
Constantini the man behind the success of Indian TT
The former Italian Olympian returned back to coach a low-lying India in September 2016 on a 2-year contract. He left in 2010 and returned back after 6 years.
At the recent Commonwealth Games, he guided India to gold in the Men’s Team and Women’s Team events, as well as Manika Batra to the Women’s Singles title.
He also helped Indian men’s team secure their maiden medal in the Asian Games after they won a bronze medal which was followed by a bronze medal performance by the mixed doubles pair of Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra in Jakarta.
