Journey of Hyderabad's Nikhat Banu in Table Tennis

It had been a seemingly endless drought for 35 years. No paddler from undivided Andhra Pradesh had claimed a national title since the legendary Mir Khasim Ali in the men’s singles, way back in 1969. One sprightly girl brought the cheer back to the state at the 2004 Chennai Nationals. In what was then known as the cadet category (under 12 years), Nikhat Banu emerged the champion.

Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) Associate Vice President and Andhra Pradesh Table Tennis Association (APTTA) Secretary, late S.M. Sultan, was only too happy to relay the good news to the media back home in his native Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad. For the wait had indeed been a long one !

The little one had overcome many odds to climb the podium. Hailing from a family of modest means, she considers herself blessed by Allah for providing support systems all along, which made the achievements that would follow, possible.

The National cadet victory was no flash in the pan as Nikhat led the Indian team to silver in the 2005 Tai Yuan International Junior Table Tennis Open Championship in China in the under 12 category. In the 2008 South Asia Junior Table Tennis Championship at Karachi, Pakistan, India won the team gold.

Two years later, Nikhat was part of the squad that won the team bronze in the 2010 French Open Table Tennis Championship. Over the years, she would represent the country in Singapore, Germany, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Iran besides several international events India hosted.

All the exposure to global competition has paid off handsomely. She now plays regularly in the France Pro league representing the Argentan Club, returning to the country to represent the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). As of end-October, 2025 the RBI Assistant Manager was to compete at the Abhay Prashal Indoor stadium in the Indore National ranking tournament.

All of it took off with the triumvirate of her mother Naseem Banu, her grandfather late Md. Ibrahim and Maduri Venugopal, coach at the Gujarati Seva Mandal Table Tennis Academy (GSMTTA), the cradle for many champions.

“Initially it was Minal Vakharia sir as Secretary who supported me. Then over the years GSM President Ghanshyam Patel and Secretary Janakbhai Brahmbhatt back(ed) me completely,” remembers Nikhat.

At Kendriya Vidyalaya, Picket, Mrs. Sudha Mani, the Principal, encouraged her immensely as did her teachers Padmaja, Shameem, Masood Sultana, Sanju, K.K. Reddy and Nagi Reddy. They had good reasons too, as she was a single girl child. With all the absence from classes for travel and tournaments, Nikhat would hit the books before exams and remained a first-class student right through her education.

Impressed by her achievements were Loyola Academy Sports Director Chandrashekhar and Placements Officer Samson Jacob. They persuaded the management to give her a full fee waiver for her degree course. Jacob even used his good offices at the Regional Passport Office to speedily renew her most vital travel document to compete in Germany and France.

Accomplishments at the national and international level earned Nikhat an Airports Authority of India (AAI) scholarship, where T.V. Subramaniam encouraged her with hikes in the amount corresponding to her growing success. She then got a job with the Income Tax Department in Chennai.

Return to her hometown was enabled by her current position at RBI, Hyderabad. “Debashish Dutta sir gave sportspersons a huge boost, recruiting and allowing us to play with freedom,” Nikhat acknowledged of her RBI stint since 2017.

She remains grateful for her sound physical fitness to Dr. Bakthiar Choudhary and mental training coach late Bharath Singh. What stands out in Nikhat’s progress has been her focus, be it on academics or sports, that continues even after marriage. “My biggest cheerleaders are my husband Subhani Pathan Khan and our daughter Inaya, all of five years,” she says with gratitude.

A Joseph Antony, author of ‘My way—The biography of M.L. Jaisimha’ (Apple Books, Kindle, +91-9490040831) was a sports commentator for Sony TV and a Senior Assistant Editor with The Hindu.

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