Soumyajit Ghosh (; born 10 May 1993) is an Indian table tennis player from Siliguri, West Bengal.[http://www.tabletennisbug.com/2010/10/table-tennis-player-profile-soumyajit.html Table Tennis player profile: Soumyajit Ghosh] He was the youngest player to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[ Ankita Das and Soumyajit Ghosh are the youngest Indian players to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics] He also became the youngest national champion at the age of 19, when he defeated Sharath Kamal in the 74th National Table Tennis Championships.[ Soumyajit Ghosh becomes youngest national table tennis champ]
Personal
Ghosh hails from a middle-class family in Siliguri. His father Hari Sankar Ghosh works for the local municipal corporation. His mother Mina Ghosh is a
homemaker. Soumyajit is an only child. In India he trains at the NIS base in Patiala under coach Bhawani Mukherjee. When abroad, he trains under coach Peter Karlsson in
Falkenberg,
Sweden. Ghosh is the Indian number 1 in
table tennis as per the world ranking (Nov 2016).
[ TTFI Rankings] He was world number 63, as of November 2016.
Career
Early career
In 2010, Ghosh won mixed doubles bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in
Bahrain. He was instrumental in helping the
India national team clinch a bronze medal in the World Junior Championships in 2011, by winning both his singles matches against
South Korea in the quarter-finals.
[ Soumyajit Ghosh looks forward to London 2012] He was also an integral part of the team that won the Asian Junior Championships in 2011.
[ Soumyajit, Ankita book London berth]
2013
In 2013, Ghosh created history by becoming the youngest national champion ever by beating six-time champion
Sharath Kamal in the finals of the 74th National Table Tennis Championships.
[ GHOSH YOUNGEST MEN'S CHAMP] He followed that up by winning the singles event at the Inter Institutional Table Tennis Championships in
Dharwad,
Karnataka.
[ GHOSH, SHAMINI ARE CHAMPIONS] He also won the singles event in the U-21 category at the Brazil Open in Santos.
[ Soumyajit, Manika win Brazil Open titles]
2014
At the
Lusofonia Games, 2014 in
Goa, Ghosh won gold medal in mixed doubles and men's team event as well as a silver and bronze in men's singles and doubles respectively.
[ Lusofonia Games, Table Tennis ] He was also a quarter finalist at the Senior National Ranking Table Tennis Championships in
Patna, 2014.
[ Defending champion Ghosh ousted] At the 2014 Commonwealth Games,
Glasgow Ghosh reached the quarter finals of both men's singles and doubles. He also reached the semis of the team event.
2015
At the WTTC 2015, Soumyajit reached R64 by beating Quadri Aruna.
2016
On 14 April 2016, Soumyajit Ghosh qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
However, he made a first round exit in the men's individual event losing to Padasak Tanviriyavechakul of
Thailand.
2017
On 30 April 2017, Soumyajit Ghosh won the ITTF Challenge Seamaster Chile Open singles event, by beating compatriot Anthony Amalraj in the final. This was his first ITTF Pro title and he became the third Indian to win an ITTF event.
Controversy
He was placed under provisional suspension and dropped from the Indian Team and replaced by
Sanil Shetty for the 2018 Commonwealth Games after a complaint of rape was filed against him by an 18-year-old teenager in Barasat, West Bengal.
He has denied the allegations.
He later married the girl who accused him of rape.
