Country’s sub-junior table tennis champion Munmun Kundu is fighting against all odds

Kolkata, Nov 14: Munmun Kundu is the current number one paddler in the sub-junior level in India. The 14-year-old girl lives in a place named Naihati, around one hour from Kolkata via train.

Her father is a hawker at Sealdah station. But an extreme amount of misfortune has made her father Robin Kundu completely destitute as his temporary and small bag-repairing shop was destroyed by police when station authority had taken a drive a couple of weeks ago to clean the station area.

So, Munmun’s father is presently jobless and he is desperately trying to recover from this dire distress. They do not have even a house of permanent construction.

Munmun’s elder brother Tanmoy himself used to play table tennis. But looking towards his sister, he quit the game and started earning. But how can the paltry amount of earning help Munmun and her family.

So, her coach Mihir Ghosh had taken her responsibility for last few years. Ghosh while speaking on the issue, said, “She is extremely talented. Otherwise, with such a financial distress and anxiety Munmun could not have earned bronze in the recently concluded Slovenia Open representing sub-junior Indian team.

Within a week after coming back from Slovenia she won the national ranking North Zone table tennis championship. That is why I have been spending money on her education and everyday food. Sometimes it becomes difficult for me to bear the expenses. Still, I have asked her to even live in my home whenever she wishes. She badly needs sponsors or job to survive.”

Munmun, however, seems to be vocal in her everyday struggle. Rather she said, “I always think of the improvement of my game, especially after earning bronze in the individual section in Slovenia Open I have started feeling that I can improve more. My coach Mihir sir also inspires me that at the senior level I will have to continue with the same quality of performance.”