Ping pong boss loses kilos for Games

Haryana MLA and Indian Table Tennis Federation chief Ajay Chautala wants to get trimmer before the Cwg. He shares his fitness mantra with MiD DAY in an interview to Rajeev Tyagi

Performance anxiety can be a great motivator. It can lead to desperate measures.u00a0 For Indian National Lok Dal leader Ajay Chautala, the sports ministry's guidelines that restrict tenure of chiefs of national sports federations and Indian Olympic committee served as a wake-up call.




At 162 kg, Chautala, the son of Haryana strongman Om Prakash Chautala, thought it was time to give up on the flab and get fab. The politician, who is running the Indian Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) for the last 11 years, devised a fitness regimen to look every inch a sportsman himself and the results are more than encouraging.

The Dabwali, Haryana, legislator has been able to lose a whopping 44 kgs without any help from the 'wonder weight loss programmes'.u00a0
"My fitness mantra is simple yet effective. The main component is self-control and diet management," he told MiD DAY.

"I get up at 5:30 in the morning and walk about six kilometres. If I am in Delhi, I prefer working out on a treadmill but when I am in my village in Haryana I go out in the fresh air to take a long walk," said the burly politician who still weighs around 118 kg.

Ajay, the elder among the two sons of Om Prakash Chautala -- the other being Abhay -- completely gave up on non-vegetarian food and started eating like an ascetic.
"Another small but significant change that I brought in is that I no longer use lifts. I always prefer stairs," Chautala said, sitting in his Delhi residence with 50 people waiting to get an audience.

Explaining his diet regimen, the 49-year-old politician said: "I eat fruits and sprouts for breakfast and dal with besan chapatti for lunch. Dinner is also very light and mostly home-cooked. I rarely eat outside now."
"Another major change that I brought in my diet is that now I have barred sugar from my tea. As a public personality I have to meet hundreds of people every day and thus have to drink a lot of tea," he said.u00a0
Chautala said he had always been a sportsperson and as the Commonwealth Games are around the corner he would like to be the best representative for the sports body he heads.

"Going on a diet regimen and following a regulated life was not easy for me. I had an erratic lifestyle due to the diversity of work commitments I have. I have to be at a lot of places simultaneously. I am a people's man and thus have to travel a lot and could not regulate what I ate," Chautala said, who runs a personal website stating his mission statement and future programmes.u00a0

Chautala wants to touch the 100 kg mark and says he is confident that he would achieve his goal.
Chautala, who belongs to one of the most powerful political families of the agrarian state apart from the Lals, pointed out that the sports minister had no locus standi to restrict the tenure of presidents of sports bodies. "Mr Gill himself has retired from the Election Commission. But I would not like to indulge in a blame game. My contention is that the criterion should be results and not the age of the incumbent."

Talking about his work as the head of Indian Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), the politician said his was the only sports federation in the country which never complained of paucity of funds. "We never missed any international event and provide the best of facilities to our players," he said.

Chautala said all Indian players who participated in the Moscow world championship last year improved their rankings. "We can assure you that our players will win medals at the Commonwealth Games,"
he said.

"Players like Sharad Kamal and Monu Das have great potential," he said.u00a0 Chautala said the ITTF is planning to tap the talent pool available in the villages by establishing academies in Sirsa (to come up this year) and Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (to come up next year). He also said the Commonwealth training camp will be kicked off at the newly-constructed stadium at the Yamuna Sports Complex by Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on June 16.

Hitting a lighter note, Chautala whose son Digvijay plays Ranji from Haryana, said:u00a0 "In politics losing weight is considered inauspicious but in sports it is a great sign. Therefore, I want to make it clear that all I have lost is my body weight. I am still as powerful a politician as I was a year ago."

The Chautala way
Exercise Walk - 6 km, only stairs no lifts.
Breakfast Fruits, sprouts.
Lunch Dal, one besan chapati.
Dinner Very light home-cooked food. Only vegetarian stuff, fried food completely off the menu.