Yashaswini Ghorpade keeps her cool during table tennis matches, rarely showing much celebration. Even when she wins, you might catch just a couple of fist pumps. She shares that her calm approach is intentional.

"I try to keep my heart rate down," she tells HT. "I need to manage my excitement to stay focused."

At the 86th Senior National Table Tennis Championships in Surat, Ghorpade has maintained her composed demeanor. However, her performance has definitely stirred up excitement at the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium.

Last year, the 20-year-old from Bengaluru smoothly transitioned from junior to senior levels, even breaking into the top 100 rankings. "The move to seniors was pretty seamless," she says. "I didn’t have any expectations about making the world’s top 100 since it was my first year."

Ranked No. 88 in the world, she exudes the confidence of a top player. Ghorpade relies on her backhand, which she considers her strong suit, using long-pimple rubber to create chances before finishing with a powerful forehand. She’s also agile and has a solid defense that she can turn into offense.

"She’s very strategic and analyzes her opponent during matches," says Arup Basak, her former coach and current trainer for the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) team.

"She’s patient, and once she spots her opponent's weakness, she capitalizes on it. The only thing she needs right now is more experience, which will come with time."

Ghorpade has made some significant progress over the last year. She made it to the finals of the WTT Feeder event in Doha and reached the quarter-finals at the WTT Contender in Lagos, Nigeria. Still, there's a lot more to tackle.

"I know I need to be mentally tougher to succeed at the senior level," she shares. "I can't lose focus at any moment; it has to be there for the entire match. In critical moments, seniors switch up their game, changing strategies and patterns. You have to stay sharp and think quickly."

"It was challenging at first, but I'm getting there."

She's dedicating time to practice whenever she can. Even in Surat, she puts in a solid amount of practice time before and after her matches. This dedication comes from someone who initially took up the sport to channel her "naughtiness and laziness."

At six, she was into singing but had to stop when her teacher relocated.

"I was that kid who played outside all the time, watched tons of TV, and was just really mischievous and lazy," she recalls. "My parents wanted me to get involved in something more active."

By the time she turned eight, she was signed up at the table tennis academy in her school.

In the beginning, the coach had me doing wall practice for a few months, and honestly, it was pretty dull. But once I got to play at the table, it became a lot more enjoyable," Ghorpade shares, noting that she chose to take up the sport professionally after winning the U-15 nationals.

Now a second-year student at Jain University, she’s putting in the effort but makes it clear that table tennis isn’t her whole life.

"I’ve realized that table tennis isn’t everything," she explains. "It’s a part of who I am and my career, but I have other interests too. I always try to explore new places when I travel."

She has especially great memories of visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue during a tournament in Rio de Janeiro. While she’s made significant progress at the table, she’s still on the lookout for even better experiences.

In doubles action, the Reserve Bank of India's Sreeja Akula and Diya Chitale clinched the women's doubles title at the 86th Senior National Championships, winning 12-14, 11-4, 11-4, 11-13, 11-4 against Haryana's Suhana Saini and Prithoki Chakraborti.

In the men's doubles, Tamil Nadu's PB Abhinandh and Suresh Raj Preyesh triumphed over West Bengal's Sourav Saha and Aniket Sen Choudhury with a score of 12-10, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7.

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