Bengaluru Smashers ride bullish Robles

Bengaluru: The port city of Huelva is home to the oldest football club in Spain - the Recreativo de Huelva, founded in 1889.  

With football being the most obvious choice of sport at every kid’s disposal there, Alvaro Robles choosing table tennis raised eyebrows.  

“All the time! They ask me that question,” the 33-year-old quips about people probing him for playing table tennis in a football-mad nation. 

“I started as a nine-year-old boy. In Spain, everybody plays football everywhere like cricket in India. I started at a TT club in my hometown because of my brother who began playing before me. As a kid I was playing football too until one moment where I had to choose because we would have matches on the weekends for both. Then I picked TT. I still don't know why,” the Sergio Ramos fan tells DH. 

His impulsive decision turned into a history-making experience as Robles would go on to become Spain’s first-ever paddler to win a silver at the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest, Hungary in the men's doubles category partnering Romania's Ovidiu Ionescu. 

It comes as a no surprise that Robles has been one of the most sought after international players at the Ultimate Table Tennis franchise event and was handed the captain’s role for the PBG Bengaluru Smashers team in his fourth season here this year.

“Well, it's a privilege. On days when a player in my team is feeling less confident or has some worries or thoughts is when I take charge to change it so as to find the right balance. It's been a lot of fun. The team is great and we are taking the responsibility together,” says Robles who has played a major role in helping the Bengaluru outfit top the league table that ensured a smooth passage to the knockout stage. 

In the league stage, Smashers won four out of the five ties while clinching 48 of the 75 games played to lead the chart by a huge margin. The left-handed Spaniard has remained undefeated so far with five wins and claimed 12 out of the total 15 games. 

Robles - known for his good rallying skills before going for the kill - brings in the energy along with the ‘never-say-die-attitude’ that athletes from Spain imbibe in themselves.

So, what makes them such tenacious fighters on the field? 

Alvaro Robles captain of the Bengaluru Smashers in the UTT has led his team to the top of the league table for a smooth passage into the knockouts.

“We have the culture of the bull that's a part of our attitude in sport too. It's in all of us. Look at the fighting spirit of (Rafael) Nadal. He never gives up on any ball,” says Robles who considers the tennis legend as one of his other idols. 

Incidentally, another breakout star from his hometown (in neither football nor tennis) is badminton Olympic champion Carolina Marin. “She is amazing! No?!,” says the World No. 28 paddler. 

Having come to India immediately after the Paris Olympics (his second Games after Tokyo 2020), Robles has a packed schedule ahead of him with the WTT Champions Macao event that will feature the world’s 32 best players from September 9-12 as his next big tournament. 

That, the skipper assures, will only be after winning the UTT title for the Bengaluru Smashers!