Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A 78-year-old veteran, Indresh Chandra Purohit, a resident of Ratlam, currently living in Indore won a bronze medal in doubles at Oman Veteran Table Tennis Championship 2023 on January 21. He and his partner beat Versang and Jacques of France in the 75 to 80 years category to win the medal.
Purohit is a retired loco pilot of the Rajdhani Express who retired in 2005 and served in Iraq as a loco pilot from 1988 to 1990.
He claims that this is for the first time that a veteran has got a medal for India in the International Table Tennis Championship. Further, he added that in 1975, Railway Deputy Minister Buta Singh travelled on a train driven by him and awarded him with Rs 50.
Past achievements
Purohit started his journey from the school itself and he played the Nationals in Imphal, Manipur in 1962.
In 2012, he reached the pre-quarters in a tournament at Stockholm, Sweden. In 2016, he played the singles and doubles finals at Alicante, Spain. In 2018, in the 70 years age group, he won gold medals in singles, doubles, and team events in South - Asian Veteran Table Tennis Championship at Penang in Malaysia. Along with this, he has won the national championship seven times.
