2020 has been tough year for sport and for table tennis. With no tournaments or events for the majority of the year the Table Tennis Victoria staff and board have not had many opportunities to attend events and interact with our members.

We have taken this chance to ask our team five fast questions to get to know them a little better, what their goals for table tennis are and some interesting things you may not have known about them.

This week we get to know our Competition Manager Rahul Mathew.

1. Can you tell us a bit a bit about yourself?

"I moved to Australia from Kerala, India to study my Masters in sports management from Deakin University in 2018.

"I was a national level table tennis player in India for almost 15 years, I have two younger brothers who are also national level table tennis players back in India. My parents are doctors so they had trouble looking after three naughty boys at home so they sent us to a nearby YMCA which had sports programs, I initially did basketball and my brother was doing table tennis. I wanted to do what he did and that’s how it all started and it was followed by 15 years of travelling for competitions, training under international and national coaches, putting full time hours etc.

"Too much Table Tennis had a toll on my interest towards the sport but I never liked losing and I liked the excitement that I gained by competing which kept me going. Later on, I realised my passion for coaching young kids and it gives me happiness, I liked the process of development, watching it itself is a treat and being part of it is even better. So me along with some of my friends from who are also former national table tennis players from India started. The ICC Table Tennis Academy which is based in the south eastern Suburbs."

2. What brought you to TTV?

“When I initially came to Melbourne I used to play and coach a bit at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre where the TTV office is situated, and I met Claire and Kameron there, they were like my mentors they taught me a lot of things, how table tennis Australia works, how to use rating central, how to manage and run pennants etc.

“My initial involvement with TTV was as an NPC for the Junior National Championship at Wollongong. Then I joined the TTV high performance panel and did some volunteering as a coach for the high-performance program, then was an assistant coach for the high-performance program. Later when Kameron had to leave his role as the Competition Manager of the Table Tennis Victoria premier league due educational reasons, I filled his position which I still hold now.”  

3 - What goals do you have for table tennis in Vic?

“Since I grew up in an Indian table tennis system and culture which is totally different from the Australian Table tennis system and culture, I felt I could offer a different perspective and share those ideas and experiences and help Table Tennis in Victoria in multiple ways.

“Victoria actually has a large pool of social players, but they lack the numbers when it comes to competitive events, especially among girls and juniors. I would like to work towards developing a system which could work with schools to convert all the kids who play table tennis as their sport in schools to registered TTV members giving them access to state competitions organized by TTV and thereby increasing the participation numbers.

Moreover, my major goal is in high performance, I will be working towards making Victoria the best table tennis state in the country and aid in developing national and international players.”

4 - What are your outside interests?

“Well after table tennis, dance is my second favourite interest, I used to be in a dance crew while was in uni doing my bachelors in India. I have played cricket for my school, and I still follow cricket but Football (some call it soccer, you are not one of them I hope?) is my favourite sport, I belong to a rare species of Fans which support Manchester City, we are few but we are strong.”

5 - Can you tell us a few things that might surprise us about you?

“Well I don’t know whether this is interesting or scary, when I was in school I met with a life threatening road accident in which I lost half of my face and I had to replace a part of my jaw with metal rods. I was accidentally announced dead at my school even before the hospital said anything and I had my best friend come to the hospital shocked to see me alive.

“So, this is basically my god given second life and I intend to make myself useful for the people around me as much as I can.”