Meenatai – A paddler par excellence

By Paritosh Pramanik

The death of Meena Parande of former international rower Nagpur has made the table tennis club and the game poorer.

Meenatai, as she was fondly called in table tennis circles, went to heaven at the age of 92.

Meenatai changed the structure of the game in the early 1950s and dominated the circle for decades to come with her exploits across the country and abroad.

Those were the days when girls were forbidden to come out of their kitchen apart from playing any sport. But Meenatai had the full support of her family, especially her grandmother who encouraged her to play table tennis. Her father, the late DK Parande, who was a lawyer and an outstanding cricketer and tennis player himself, supported Meenatai to pursue her dream.

Born on December 12, 1931, Meenatai learned the tricks of the trade very quickly. She started to dominate the scene by the time she turned 20 and started showing her exploits in the late 1940s.

Meenatai had exceptional skills. She was quick in her reflexes. Her smooth wrist work sometimes made her opponents jealous of the good-looking paddler.

In the early 1950s, the national scene was dominated by Syeed Sultana, who won invincible national titles every year from 1949 to 1953. But the Sultana citadel was violated by Meenatai when she stunned the much-experienced player for her first national championship in Baroda in 1954. The following year, Sultana avenged her defeat at Guntur, but Meenatai was determined when she took the following year’s trophy at Saharanpur in 1956.

Meenatai, who was as beautiful as her playing, won two more national titles in 1958 (Ahmedabad) and 1959 (Calcutta).

Meenatai represented Maharashtra from 1953 to 1958 and then played for Indian Railways from 1959 to 1965.

Immediately after dethroning Sultana from the top in 1954, Meenatai was awarded a place in the Indian team at World Championships in England in 1954 and in Japan in 1956. She became the first Maharashtrian to represent India at the World Cup.

Meenatai, who took table tennis lessons from Mr. Chandorkar of Nagpur, also won awards in Singapore (1954), Bangkok (1955), Vietnam (1961) and Bombay (1963) at Asian Table Tennis Championships.

Meenatai, who came third in Asia in 1954, also toured Pakistan and Sri Lanka, returning with a bag full of medals. Her closet overflowed with hundreds of trophies and medals when Meenatai decided to call it quits in the mid-1960s.

After retiring from Indian Railways, Meenatai coached several players from 1965 to 1985. Dr. Charudatta Apte, Rajeev Bodas, Suhas Kulkarni, Ajay Shidhaye, Neela Kulkarni, Nandini Kulkarni and Sunanda Kane were the lucky ones to receive training from the legend.

Meenatai enjoyed her secluded life by showing an interest in yoga. She attended many Yoga Ashrams in Munger in Bihar, Yogniketan in Hrishikesh, Arvind Ashram in Pondicherry, Vivekananda Kendra in Kanyakumari, Raman Mahershi’s Ashram and learned various techniques and asanas.

She attended Vipashana sibirs (camp) in Igatpuri and rendered her services there for about six months.

Meenatai carried the table tennis flag with confidence for years. She was a paddler par excellence who will be remembered for making the game popular everywhere.

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