Abhinandh, Ananya, and Subin: The sibling-coach trio rising through the ranks in Indian table tennis

Legs wide apart, knees bent, and body leaning forward, Abhinandh PB met the ball at the peak of its bounce. It was a textbook forehand drive; one that would power India to the U19 boys’ team final at the 2025 ITTF World Youth Table Tennis C’ships in Romania.

As soon as the point landed in his favour, Abhinandh turned around to the bench with his arms wide apart. His teammates – Ankur Bhattacharjee, Priyanuj Bhattacharya, and Punit Biswas – came running in, jumping over the hoardings to mob him in celebration.

Until a few moments ago, this looked improbable. Abhinandh had a 10-4 lead in the third game after winning the first two. With a victory in sight, he faltered as Chinese Taipei’s Hsu-Hsien Chia mounted a comeback by winning four straight points.

The bench was tense. Especially because Abhinandh had lost his first match of the semi-final tie 1-3 to Kuo Guan Hong.

India had a 2-1 lead in the tie, thanks to wins from Ankur and Priyanuj, and had hoped to close it off with the former’s second match. He was, however, beaten 0-3 by Kuo as Chinese Taipei equalised 2-2.

As Abhinandh entered the arena for the deciding match against Hsu, there was a cloud of doubt even among his teammates.

“We depended on Ankur to win the reverse fixture,” said Subin Kumar, a coach with the Indian setup, to Read.

“The team wasn’t very confident in him (Abhinandh) taking the last singles match because he had lost the first match,” added Subin, who has coached Abhinandh ever since he picked up the sport.

But Abhinandh thrives under pressure. It was only a few months ago that the teenager guided U Mumba to the 2025 Ultimate Table Tennis title in Ahmedabad. He started the tournament on the bench, and it wasn’t until the final round robin tie that he got a match.

On debut, he stunned Izaac Quek for a shock win. In the final, he took a game off Jeet Chandra – eight years his senior – to seal the title for U Mumba.

“I am not sure if I would get a match, but if I do, I know I will help the team win,” a bench-warming but confident Abhinandh had told this publication then.

The kid who loved the table too much

It was this confidence which convinced Subin to take a punt on a young kid in Chennai more than a decade back. Abhinandh was just four years old then.

“He was very passionate and wanted to play consistently right from the first day,” recalled Subin. “He was able to express himself on the table compared to other kids.

“Even at the age of four, he wanted to play more and more. I liked that attitude,” he added.

It’s a characteristic Abhinandh still carries, playing nearly eight to ten hours a day to level up his game.

Abhinandh and Subin’s paths merged purely by chance. The coach happened to open an academy near his home. PB Muralidharan and his wife Shanti wanted to enroll their preschooler on a sport as a casual activity. The fact that their relative’s son trained under Subin’s academy helped.

A young Abhinandh’s adaptability and grasping power intrigued Subin.

Just after his first couple of tournaments, Abhinandh was making his way past the first couple of rounds. Within a year, he was entering quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Abhinandh in action at Youth Worlds (Photo credit: WTT)

“Once I started sending him to tournaments, he was on a learning curve,” said Subin. “He was one of the fastest to adapt to conditions.

“Normally, people take at least one year to start winning matches, he was winning the early rounds after just two or three tournaments,” he added.

Abhinandh hasn’t looked back since. He has dominated the age-group circuit at both the state and national levels and is among the top-16 men’s singles paddlers in India at the senior level currently.

A sibling story shaping Indian Table Tennis

As he started to excel in the sport, his younger sister Ananya Muralidharan joined him in the quest. She was a part of the Indian U15 girls’ team, which won the bronze medal at the 2025 ITTF World Youth C’ships in Romania.

The parents took Ananya to Subin just a year after their son started. The coach, unfortunately, had to reject her due to her short height before he finally took her under his wing a year later.

Much like Abinandh, the 15-year-old Ananya too has had a rapid rise. She is a dominant force in the Tamil Nadu states and is among the top juniors nationally.

Despite following a similar path more or less, the siblings could not be any more different.

“Ananya was always serious about the sport, right from the first day. She wasn’t ever wasting any time,” said Subin.

“Abhinandh, on the other hand, likes to enjoy the sport.”

Ananya in action at Youth Worlds (Photo credit: WTT)

Subin has two prodigiously talented paddlers under his wings, and he understands the challenges that lie ahead.

“For Ananya, she still has to showcase that she is ready to take the leap to senior level,” he explained. “She has always surprised me with her performances, but it might still take her a year or two to develop.

“As for Abhinandh, he is already itching to play WTT events in the senior category. The Indian team for the 2026 Asian Games is on the mind, but he needs to climb up the national rankings for that,” he added.

As the 2025 season winds to a close, Subin already has plans in place – Abhinandh needs to play more at the senior level and get two or three-month-long training camps in Europe to level up. Ananya needs to prove her mettle in the age group.

“We need to carry both of them together,” said Subin with a chuckle.

The we here refers to Muralidharan and Shanti, who have placed their complete trust and faith in the coach. With their support, Subin is plotting the rise of a never-seen-before sibling duo in the Indian table tennis circuit.