Renowned Italian coach to groom Indian paddlers for 2010 Games

Renowned Italian coach Massimo Constantini will groom Indian paddlers for the 2010 Commonwealth Games scheduled in the capital.

The Steering Committee for the Games which met in New Delhi on Friday approved Constantini as the coach who would train the 40 'core probables' selected for the 2010 Games.

Constantini's appointment comes barely a fortnight after the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) decided not to extend the contract of Belarussian coach Aleksey Yefremov.

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Constantini, a high-performance coach and coach education course conductor of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), has been working with the Seychelles team.

The Sports Ministry had earlier decided to train 40 core group players -- 32 have already been identified -- under the "Preparation of Indian Teams for Commonwealth Games, 2010" scheme.

Four Indian coaches, who would work with Constantini are Kamlesh Mehta, Manjit Dua, Bhawani Mukerjee and Mantu Ghosh.