Ultimate Table Tennis 2017: Ex-India coach Peter Engel says league not enough to solve nation's woes in sport

New Delhi: Having a month long international league is a much needed boost for Indian table tennis but it is not enough make the country a force to reckon with, said former India coach Peter Engel. Engel is coaching RPSG Mavericks in the inaugural Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) league and was associated with the Indian team till the 2014 Asian Games. [caption id=“attachment_3841925” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of RPSG and former India coach Peter Engel. Image courtesy: RP-SG Mavericks via Twitter[/caption] “The organisation of the league is world class and even better than what we have back in Europe. It just needs to take place year-after-year to make a big impact,” Engel told PTI here today. “However, a league cannot fix all your problems. I said even during the time I was India coach, you need a big pool of youngsters training in India and overseas both. “I have two young players Diya and Archana Kamath under me back in Germany. Your senior players are already doing well but unless the budding talent gets the required exposure, the results at world events won’t come,” said the German. Three men’s players Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai and Soumyajit Ghosh are in the top 100 of the world rankings, showing the senior players are competing against the best in the business. “But unless your junior and sub-junior players don’t get top-class training, a pool of world class players will not be created for the future,” Engel added.