Subham Kundu started playing table tennis at the age of 6.
At the time, he lived in India with his family.
There was a table tennis club near his neighborhood, and his father took him there one day to watch kids and adults engage in various tournaments.
“The sound of the ball was amazing. It was so fast, so quick,” said Kundu in an interview with The Beat. “I was amazed. I saw a few tournaments and they were shouting for their points. They were literally so into the game with a fighting spirit. There is a sound when you win, some kind of roar coming out of you. Those things amazed me.”
Then and there, the young Kundu was sold on the sport. He began practicing, and went on to become a professional table tennis player in India for 16 years. During that time, he won a great deal of medals.
“In India, if you are a good player, you get a job,” said Kundu. “So I worked 11 years for the government before moving here [to the United States].”
India Community Center (ICC) in Milpitas extended an offer to Kundu, asking him to move out to California and serve as a table tennis coach for children. Kundu accepted the offer and moved to California in 2019.
For the past several years, Kundu has coached a multitude of kids at the ICC’s Table Tennis Center (located at 1507 N Milpitas Blvd). Many of the kids Kundu has coached have won medals in the US National and US Open tournaments.
Most recently, Keshav Sridhar, who trains under Kundu, won a Gold medal for a doubles event in the last US Open, which took place in Ontario, California this past December. Kundu’s players are currently preparing for US Nationals, which is coming up in July.
“I have been training with Coach Subham for three years now and it is an honor to learn table tennis from such a talented coach. He understands the sport very well and can assist me in counteracting any obstacle my opponents come up with. He is an enjoyable coach in general, as we sometimes get goofy, but when it’s time to focus on the game, he gets me to lock in,” shared Siddharth Kodaty, a student of Kundu’s.
Since being in the states, Kundu himself has won some medals personally for the US Open Gold Medal in a doubles event; and in a 2022 Joola Global Championship, he won both silver and bronze medals.
However, nowadays, Kundu isn’t playing much tennis; he is instead focused on nurturing the talent of the children that he works with.
Kundu hopes to continue coaching more and more kids to achieve great things in the realm of table tennis.
Kundu told The Beat that there are tremendous benefits when it comes to playing table tennis. Enhanced eyesight and a strong level of concentration are key benefits. Others include improving the body physically and being mentally strong.
“When kids play more, they learn life lessons also. Because in life, every day is not the same. There’s a bad day and a good day,” said Kundu. “In table tennis, you can’t win all the matches. This teaches life lessons also.”
Along with supporting and developing children in their table tennis skills, Kundu would also like to continue to grow the India Community Center.
Although he has spent years finding success as both a player and a coach, in many ways, Kundu is just getting warmed up.
“In ICC, you will see a lot of small kids. They come for fun,” said Kundu. “We try to motivate them and make them understand the game. And if they like it, slowly, they get into professional table tennis. That is my goal: to get more students and teach them and help them reach their goal and play for their country, winning medals.”
