Anusha Kutumbale eyes consistency in upcoming Table Tennis season

Anusha Kutumbale eyes consistency in upcoming Table Tennis season Anusha enters the new domestic season at the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis tournament in Kanpur with confidence fuelled by a year that has offered both validation and frustration.

Key points

• It was in Vadodara, in August 2025, that she had won the opening National Ranking tournament of the previous season.
• "My coaches (John Murphy and Jay Modak) and my team prepped me really, really well, " she notes.
• At 23, the Indore paddler is beginning to find a new kind of consistency herself.
• A major part of that process came after she joined Athletes Aura, a performance centre in Indore.
• The opening National Ranking tournament of the new season offers a familiar setting and an opportunity for an encore.

For the better part of the last decade, Anusha Kutumbale's father Shreesh has been the most animated spectator in the hall whenever his daughter takes to the table. There have been celebrations, disagreements, tantrums and, inevitably, hugs. Through the ups and downs of her career, though, he has remained the one constant. Be it as her coach, mentor, friend and obviously the father.

At 23, the Indore paddler is beginning to find a new kind of consistency herself. Anusha enters the new domestic season at the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis tournament in Kanpur with confidence fuelled by a year that has offered both validation and frustration. While her run to the WTT Feeder final in Vadodara in January provided another reminder of her ability to challenge the established order, she was central in U Mumba TT's successful Ultimate Table Tennis title defence in July.

It was in Vadodara, in August 2025, that she had won the opening National Ranking tournament of the previous season. But what followed was a topsy-turvy campaign, culminating in a seventh-place finish in the national rankings and a narrow miss for India's Asian Games squad.

Rather than dwell on the disappointment, Anusha chose to work on herself – quite literally. "I have stopped thinking about what my professional career trajectory should be, " she notes. "Instead of thinking ahead regarding what lies ahead, I am just going to leave the planning to somebody else. I am just going to go out there and do what I do." That "somebody else" is, unsurprisingly, her father.

In practice, the transformation in Anusha over the past year has been evident. While working on retaining muscle and strengthening her core, she has become leaner and fitter. She insists the objective was never to lose weight.

"Particularly honestly, the goal was never to lose weight. It was always to become fitter, stronger, " she notes.

In practice, a major part of that process came after she joined Athletes Aura, a performance centre in Indore. The environment, she notes, assisted create fitness less of an obligation and more of a habit.

"When everyone uplifted each other, I began to actually want to become fitter, want to become stronger. And it became part of the routine, " she notes. "Personally also, it helped me a lot with how I see myself, be it with self-image or with discipline."

For context, the first tangible evidence came in Vadodara national ranking. Anusha had four matches in a day, each of them demanding. Previously, she had often discovered that stretching herself over a long day came with a rate the after morning. This time, she woke up ready for another test – a semifinal against Diya Chitale.

"That was the time when I knew that the work I had put in for my fitness had paid me, " she notes.

Her ability to withstand the physical demands of a long tournament was more than a fitness marker. It offered Anusha the confidence that her body could now backing the ambitions of her game.

That confidence was evident in UTT, where she contributed to U Mumba's title defence. And when the pressure of the fifth match arrived, she discovered herself embracing rather than fearing it.

"My coaches (John Murphy and Jay Modak) and my team prepped me really, really well, " she notes. "Right from day one, they've been telling me to just go out there, play my game and enjoy the feeling of being in a situation where I do obtain a lot of attention. I see it as attention and not as pressure and just try to enjoy myself."

It is a mindset that has perhaps been shaped by the disappointments of the previous season. After winning in Vadodara and reaching the Feeder final, Anusha eventually discovered herself seventh in the national rankings and outside India's Asian Games squad. Instead of allowing the uncertainty over her career path to consume her, she has consciously chosen to narrow her focus. The next point. Meanwhile, the next match. The next tournament.

In the background, the voice of the man who has been there since she first picked up a racket. "He is like the backbone. Without him, I cannot stand, " Anusha notes of her father. "In the back of my mind, I am having conversations with him when I am playing, even when he is not there."

Their journey, nevertheless, has not been without friction. A father coaching his daughter inevitably brings emotional moments, and Anusha admits there have been plenty of fights and tantrums.

"But I trust him more than anything in the world, " she notes. "Whenever I am in a clutch moment, I remember him and all the strength comes to me." The trick, they have learnt over time, is not to let what happens at the table spill over into their relationship away from it.

"We have really worked consciously towards that, " she notes. "No matter what happens on the table, even if you have the worst fights and he has to deal with a lot of my tantrums, end of the day, I still go and sit in his lap and hug him and everything is OK."

For now, Anusha's attention returns to the table. The opening National Ranking tournament of the new season offers a familiar setting and an opportunity for an encore.

Vadodara offered her the breakthrough last season. Kanpur could provide another marker in a topsy-turvy career that is increasingly beginning to look deliberate.

In short, anusha Kutumbale eyes consistency in upcoming Table Tennis season is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.