Sri Lanka’s table tennis players will have the services of an international coach from Belarus for the forthcoming South Asian Games which will be held from December 1 to 10 in Nepal.
Alecksey Yefremov, a 45-year old Professor of Physical Education arrived in the island through the Asian Table Tennis Union Development Programme in collaboration with the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka and the Interim Committee of Table Tennis in Sri Lanka.
“This is good move for the local paddlers to develop their skills in preparation for the South Asian Games,” said Member of the Interim TT Committee Chandana Perera who was also the former TTASL head.
Yefremov has a sound background and hails from a dedicated TT family and was a member of Belarus junior National team and under-21 team. But he was inspired to develop as a professional TT coach and obtained a degree as TT coach and Professor of Physical Education at the State University of Physical Education. He has completed several courses such as ITTF Level Two course in Sweden in 2008 and ITTF Level Three course conductor training in Malaysia in 2012.
Yefremov has more than 23 years of coaching experience in different countries both as National coach and club coach serving in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
He has been playing and working as a coach in Croatia for seven years from 1997-2004, India in 2008, Egypt 2009-2011, Colombia 2011-2013, Peru 2013-2015, UAE 2016, Norway and Iceland in 2017.
“Aleksey has vast experience as a coach and his training methods are very vital for Sri Lanka to prepare for the South Asian Games,” said Perera.