Stalin Prabhu
To Whom It May Concern
It is with genuine pride that I write in support of Asavari Agrawal. I have had the privilege of coaching her in table tennis since she was a small girl in Grade 3, so I know her not from a single season but from the whole arc of her journey. Over these years I have watched her grow into an accomplished national-level player and, more than that, into one of the most resilient and generous young people I have ever mentored. That is what makes this letter so easy to write and so hard to keep to one page.
When Asavari first walked into my coaching hall, she was a child who could barely see over the table. Even then, what set her apart was not natural talent alone. It was the way she responded to losing. And she did lose. There were district matches she was expected to win and did not. There were tournaments where she went out early, and finals where she came agonisingly close and fell short. I have seen her walk off the court in tears more times than I can count. But not once, not a single time, did she let a defeat be the end of the story. She would ask me what went wrong, go back to the basics, and come back sharper than before. That habit of falling and rising, again, is the real reason behind the medals that fill her record. The interschool titles and MVP awards, the district championships, the national podium finishes at ISSO, her representation at the international stage in Bahrain. Every one of them was built on a loss she refused to accept as final.
Her leadership as team captain has been nothing short of phenomenal, and this is where her character shines brightest. Many times, she has faced defeat, and so have the younger children in her team. Yet I have watched her wipe away her own tears in an instant, then turn around and wrap those younger players in a hug to lift their spirits before she had even tended to her own disappointment. I salute that kind of sportsmanship. This very day, 13th August 2026, she played her final school tournament at the prestigious TISB VIVUM ’26, and once again she was named Most Valuable Player. What very few people know is that she played through a high fever. She never once made it my concern. I was busy mentoring the little ones, and she simply went out and delivered. It was the final strike of a true sportsperson, and I could not have asked for a more fitting way for her to close this chapter.
What I respect most, though, came from a quieter decision. As Asavari moved into the demanding world of the Cambridge international curriculum, her hours on the table shrank dramatically. Rather than grow bitter about the time she no longer had, she decided that if she could not practise as much as she wanted, she would at least pass on everything she had learnt to children who never had the chance to learn it at all. Through her initiative, Shape the Future, she began coaching underprivileged children and founded a small table tennis academy for them. She sold her own table tennis robot, gave away her own table, and personally collected equipment so that these children would have what they needed to play. I have known many talented athletes. Very few of them would part with their own most prized gear so that a stranger’s child could hold a paddle for the very first time.
Asavari is, quite simply, the kind of person a coach hopes to meet once in a career. She is fiercely competitive yet deeply humble, a fighter on the court and a giver off it. She has my highest and most unreserved recommendation, and I would be glad to speak further with anyone who wishes to know more about her.
With warm regards,
Stalin Prabhu
Table Tennis Coach
The Inventure Academy, Bengaluru