Shillong, June 18: The Table Tennis Federation of India has entered a tie-up with Anil Kumble’s Tenvic for support to make coaching modules uniform and infuse professionalism among top paddlers of the country.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed in March and implemented since last month, the former Indian cricket captain’s firm will orient coaches and mentor the top 10 men and women players of the nation, said the federation’s treasurer V.K. Bawa.

“The idea is to introduce a uniform module of coaching across the country. We have a lot of coaches in our 32 states. However, the coaching module differs. Tenvic will organise courses at three levels for the coaches. The courses will commence with the level I course next month in Bangalore,” Bawa said.

“It will be mandatory for every coach in the country to undergo the different levels of courses to be eligible to do duty for TTFI and its affiliated state units. The state associations will be asked to send at least three top coaches of the state to attend the courses. No fees will be required to attend the level I course. However, those attending levels II and III will have to contribute a nominal fee, which will be used to engage foreign experts,” he added.

International Table Tennis Federation experts Michael Anderson, Eric Lynd and Massimo Constantini with Chetan Baboor, Bhawani Mukherjee and A. Sharath Kamal from TTFI will comprise a panel to prepare the modules for the courses. The level III coaches, who will be trained in international standards, will be eligible to train the national teams and accompany the teams abroad.

Bawa said the programme commenced last month with a camp in Patiala for national top-ranked players. Players like A. Amalraj, Sharath Kamal, Subhajit Saha, Soumyadeep Roy, Poulomi Ghatak, K. Shamin and Mouma Das will be under the mentoring scheme.

Bawa said: “The contract is initially for one year which will be reviewed and extended upto a period of three years under the MoU we have signed. The prospects of support to individual players will be discussed and initiated later.”