I was doing my plus one studies.

I had just left

table tennis for about 6 months.Every year our school takes part in the ALL HILLS
SPORTS MEET (ARCIES) in which schools from sikkim and west bengal participate
.This year around, all our major table tennis players had left our school except
for me,my friend Bijendra and my senior, bikash agarwal.We three along with two
new junior faces were commenced by our principal to be informed that this time we
five were selected for the inter school tournament.Bikash being the senior most
was announced as the captain of our team.Since we were all out of form ,we asked
for a coach who could put things in order within a month so that we could get
ready for the tournament which started a month later.From the following day
onwards we started practicing heavily.We were in anticipation of our new coach who
never appeared for a week.One fine Saturday afternoon i as usual ran down ths
steps of my school building to enter the table tennis hall to capture the side of
the board in which i always wished to play.

I took out my racquet and stood by the board

,waiting for my other mates.I heard some kind of rattling noise which occurs when
plastics get crushed in between two huge hands.I turned around to see a tall and
lanky ,pretty much tanned figure with a hint of moustache and beard on his face.He
came close to me and asked me if i were clement.I answered positively not knowing
much about his intention of asking me the question.Then he himself introduced
himself as MR.VIKRANTH and he felt glad that he was appointed as our new coach.He
told me that he had heard about me in gangtok and he appreciated my efforts in
securing the runner up position in the STATE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS ,the previous
year.He was very polite and i got along with him very well.
Later on when all the boys had arrived ,he introduced himself in front of all and
soon started coaching us.Days passed and i never knew how ! He was such an
interesting person.We all started to call him VIKRANTH DA - meaning "Vikranth
brother".

One more week to go :

We all started practicing heavily and decreased our

time of rest.I knew that the competition was going to be tough since west bengal
is the number 1 ranked state in table tennis in india.I don't remember what
actually happened to me but i suppose i got affected by some kind of fever which
kept me away from practice for five whole days.I was back for practice for the
last two days.This did not affect my gameplay to any extent.I was perfectly all
right.

The tournament was held at ST.BETHANY school in

kurseong,a city in northern part of west bengal.We reached the spot a day before
the commencement of the tournament, after a tiring 5 hours journey by jeep.Only
ten other teams had arrived till then.I was glad to see less amount of teams.But
my happiness lived only till midnight.Twenty four more teams came in their
respective school buses ,waving their school flags.Totally there were 35 teams
which were to participate.We were accomodated in a class room,and soon we made
ourselves comfortable with our beds.I, as usual made made my prayers and closed my
eyse thinking how i should take my on games.Everyone else started playing
cards.After about 15 minutes our coach rushed in and made sure all were present.He
asked us if we had had our dinner and we answered positively.Soon he started
talking about our strategy to go about in the tournament.He explained the nature
of the tournament to us.For u readers-The tournament was a knock out one.Five
players had to represent each team.Three players had to play in the singles
category and the left over two had to form a pair for doubles.Vikranth da
suggested myself,bikash and bijendra to play singles and amit bhattar and rakesh
were to play as partners in the doubles category.We accepted his sugggestions and
started preparing ourselves mentally.Normally i and Bikash used to slip into
loggerheads whenever we talked about something.But this time around i took his
advice and he took mine (maybe due to the intense pressure which we felt after
seeing the number of opponents).I took some responsibility off from bikash to
encourage my team mates.I kept on encouraging my team mates till they started
believing in their mettle.

Day broke in.As usual i had very little for

breakfast and had a small practice session.The boards seemed to be normal and
suited my style of play. The tournament was declared open by the principal of the
school and the matches commenced at 10.00 am.Our first opponent was the host
itself.We knew they were good but we also knew that we had in us enough to beat
them.They struck the first blood by eliminating us from the doubles category.Amit
and Rakesh stood no chance against the fast serving and technically sound
bethanians.We were taken aback.We never expected such an early exit from the
tournament in the doubles category.I was further infuriated when one of the
bethanians teased bikash.I calmed myself down and promised my team-"I will show
them what we , Publicans, can do".We called ourselves publicans.Not only us but
each and every individual of our school proudly calls himself/herself by this
name.

Bikash stepped into the arena with his bethanian

counterpart.We started cheering him up.He looked in great touch and was sending in
some rattling shots which his opponent found tough to handle.Every shot that he
hit was echoed like a thunder by our supporters.He won the first set easily.He
looked confident. The second set ,which we expected him to win, went the other
way.I really think that due to over confidence he led us down.....He lost the
match and we went down 0-1 with two matches to go.Our supporters were stunned.

Our fate in the tournament relied on my match which

was due next.My opponent was more tall and he had a ferocious top spin.I knew his
weak points too..He had a very poor backhand.I read his nature of gameplay during
the practice session itself.I started the match by serving first.I Played to my
opponent's weak point and secured a win against him.I was very confident and i
decided to play the deciding game.I led the decider from the beginning itself and
wrapped up the first round win over bethanians by smashing the ball to the right
of my opponent.Everyone clapped.

Our next opponents were St.Xavier's from pakyong -

sikkim.We had no trouble in thrashing them 3-0.Our third round opponents were Holy
Cross,Tadong.I decided to play the first set.My opponent had a quiet different
racquet. I asked his racquet just for a moment,took it to my coach and asked what
rubber it had on it.He told me that it had "long pimples" on it and advised me how
i should play against this type of play.At the beginning i found it a bit tough to
tackle his deliveries but as the match proceeded i learnt how to tackle him. I had
no problems and won the game.Bikash too won the next game and we were through to
the Semi finals.Our next opponents were - SAPTA SHREE GYANPEET,current title
defenders.

I was brimming with confidence and i realised that

we had a chance to make it to the finals if we played well.I played the first game
and won it quiet comfortably.To our surprise Bikash lost his game.Now came the
decider in which i was supposed to play against a bengal state player.Everyone
gathered around our table.My face could not cover up my nervousness.I took my
time. I chanted my prayers as i always do before every point that i play.I stood
silently with my racquet tightly held in my hands and sweat all over my face.The
match refree came up to me and asked me if i was ready.I looked at my opponent.He
looked calm and confident and was jogging on the spot.I turned around and looked
at my coach and he gave me a thumbs up.I turned back and asked the informed the
refree that i was ready.I won the toss and i choose to serve first.I knew that the
first two serves were the most vital ones in any match so i made him play two of
my best serves.I won both the points.He seemed to have felt a bit confused and
unsure of how to play me since i was a penholder and my defensive style differs a
lot from others.He never found his groove in the first set and i won it
comfortably.Before the start of the second set he had a bit of advice from his
coach and so did i, from mine.In the second set he played me very well and
attacked me with lots of drives.I felt as if i could do nothing.I was extremely
against his powerful drives.I looked at my coach and my friends now and then.I
just wanted to tell them that my opponent was a bit too strong for me.I actually
never remembered anything that happened between the 2nd and final set but when the
match was over i came back to my coach to hear that i had lost both the other
sets.I was shocked because i never had time to recover from my mistakes.Everytime
i had thought that there was still one more set to go.I started to hate myself at
that point.I had let my school down.My coach smiled at me,but i did not have a
clue why he did so.

He patted me and so did my other mates.I saw my

opponent come towards me.I just dropped my head down.He came up to me and shook
hands with me.He acknowledged that this was the best match he had ever played.I
couldn't speak a word.I was in a dilemma. I was in a state where ,if he had spoken
anothe word ,i would have broken down to tears.Everyone started consoling me.

We packed our luggages and set off in our school

bus which had come to lift us up.I sat down in the last seat with my eyes filled
with tears and thinking about the match that i should have really won.I felt
guilty of letting my team mates , my supporters and my school down.All of a sudden
, I heard my friends sing the song :
"We Shall over come,We shall over come
We shall over come one day,
Oh deep in my heart ,I do believe ,We shall over come one
day."
I started consoling myself after hearing the song.I too joined them .Each one of
us held a school flag and waved it outside the bus windows and continued singing
the song.Suddenly there was a moment of silence.And after a few seconds i heard
these few lines:
"Three cheers for clement,Hip Hip Hurray
Hip Hip Hurray
Hip Hip Hurray".
Tears of joy rolled down my
cheeks............................................