All posts tagged: Massimo

Coach Massimo takes blame for ITTF World Team C’ships flop show; targets hard reset before Asian Games

Coach Massimo takes blame for ITTF World Team C’ships flop show; targets hard reset before Asian Games

Published by Webster

The Indian table tennis teams had a forgettable outing at the 2026 ITTF World Championships, losing in the first round of knockouts last week. While the women’s team went down to the United States 1-3, the men were blanked 0-3 by a lower-ranked Austria, who have no paddlers ranked in top-100 of the men’s singles world rankings. Manush Shah in the first match of the tie against Robert Gardos was the only one to put up a fight in the contest, losing a hard-fought battle in the decider. Manav Thakkar, the highest-ranked Indian, and veteran Sathiyan Gnansekaran were both swept 3-0 by Daniel Habesohn and Andreas Levenko, respectively. “The result was really not ideal,” national coach Massimo Costantini told The Bridge days after the team’s exit. “We knew we had a good chance, but unfortunately, we didn’t perform well,” he added. The Indian trio looked completely out of sorts in the contest, struggling to cope with the attacking game the Austrians employed. They were, more often than not, caught in awkward positions on the table …

Table Tennis: Coach Massimo Costantini’s prophecy fulfilled as India wins World Youth C’ships silver

Table Tennis: Coach Massimo Costantini’s prophecy fulfilled as India wins World Youth C’ships silver

Published by Webster

“Among the boys, there are three major players that impress me. Ankur, Abhinandh, and Priyanuj. These three I like and I think it will be a very very strong team at the U19 and we can really aim at winning medals at the world championships.” These were the words of Indian national table tennis coach Massimo Costantini back in January earlier this year. The 67-year-old Italian was speaking to The Bridge at the sidelines of the 2025 National Championships in Surat. Just over ten months later, Costantini’s words have turned prophetic. The three paddlers that he name-dropped in that conversation – Ankur Bhattacharjee, Abhinandh PB, and Priyanuj Bhattacharya – all combined to help India to win its first-ever team silver medal at the ITTF World Youth Championships on Tuesday. Competing in the boys’ U19 team event, the trio, along with Punit Biswas, wrote themselves into history books as they entered the gold medal match to become the first Indian team to reach the final of a world championship in the sport. #News | A historic …

‘Ranking points don’t matter, beating the best does,’ Massimo Constantini’s vision for Indian TT

‘Ranking points don’t matter, beating the best does,’ Massimo Constantini’s vision for Indian TT

Published by Webster

“I don’t care about ranking points,” Massimo Constantini tells The Bridge in a freewheeling chat at the sidelines of the 86th Senior National Table Tennis Championships in Surat. The 66-year-old is quite upbeat about what he wants and what he expects of Indian paddlers. Constantini has his eyes set on bigger things and when he says he doesn’t care about it, he quite literally doesn’t. “Points in world ranking, to me, are not relevant. To me winning against relevant players is more important. Points don’t give confidence but winning against world-class players in the top 10 gives confidence. This is what I am aiming at and not points,” he asserted. Constantini is now a name synonymous with Indian table tennis. The Italian joined the country’s national set-up in 2009-10 before returning for a two-year stint from 2016-18. The Indian table tennis teams were then without a designated national coach for six years until May 2024, when Constantini returned for a third spell just before the 2024 Paris Olympics. Having overseen a best-ever show from Indian …

Massimo Costantini, the monkish Italian choosing to coach Indians over running a cocktail bar at his Italian port home-town | Sport-others News

Published by Webster

His thick-rimmed glasses have become his trademark look. He’s fair-skinned, short-statured, and has thinning, curly hair, usually grey or white. We’re not talking about the legendary American director Woody Allen, though you’d be forgiven for mistaking Indian table tennis national coach Massimo Costantini for the director of ‘Match Point’ and other great blockbusters. In a way, Costantini, who hails from a small Italian port city Senigallia, is director-esque too. But rather than stand behind a camera, he prefers to stand behind a table, with a TT paddle in hand. Right now, he’s directing his Season 3 of Indian table tennis, the most crucial season that could change the future of the sport in the country. And he’s doing it with calmness but firmness, friendliness but staunch professionalism. India’s Table Tennis coach Massimo Costantini The globe-trotting 66-year-old has enjoyed a fascinating coaching career which has seen him guide his home country Italy besides UAE, and even the USA. He’s won the ITTF Coach of the Year award and is inducted into the California Table Tennis Hall …

Massimo Costantini set to return as Head Coach for Indian Table Tennis

Published by Webster

India’s elite table tennis players are on the verge of welcoming back a familiar face as head coach, with Italy’s Massimo Costantini likely to return for his third stint with the national team after a six-year hiatus as per PTI. Costantini’s previous tenures with the Indian team came in 2009-2010 and 2016-2018, the latter culminating in India’s historic performance at the 2018 Asian Games where the country secured a table tennis medal for the very first time. The sport’s trajectory saw a sharp rise following the historic Asian Games performance. However, for the past six years, the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) had struggled to find a suitable successor to Costantini. Now, as negotiations are underway for a four-year contract with the 65-year-old Italian, known affectionately as ‘Max’ in the table tennis community, it seems he is set for his longest tenure with the national side. A TTFI official revealed to PTI that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is currently in discussions for Costantini’s return, making him the frontrunner among the recommended names …