Sid and Nandan Naresh are table tennis overachievers.
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Not only did the brothers, both Naperville North High School students, make a return trip to — and pick up a few medals at — the 2021 Pan Am Youth Table Tennis Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, they’ve demonstrated their skills on national television and have a slate of competitions coming up.
But before the September Pan Am games, it had been a long time since their last international contest way back in 2019. The pandemic shut everything down for them and other competitors, they said.
“It was amazing to go out and compete and see friends again from other countries. It felt great to be back,” said Sid Naresh, 17. “It is nice to have tournaments to look forward to, and gauge your level of competitiveness. When tournaments stopped, we did see a small dip in our motivation levels.”
His brother, 14-year-old Nandan, took home gold medals in the under-15 boys team and the boys doubles events and a silver medal in mixed doubles. Sid was the bronze medal winner in the under-19 boys team event.
“We had to work hard to not allow the anxiety get the better of us,” Nandan said. “But it felt good to go out on the court and represent the USA, win our matches and end up on the podium.”
The Naresh brothers — highly rated by USA Table Tennis — are no strangers to the spotlight. They’ve been on NBC’s “Little Big Shots” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” where they showed off their moves and talked about their Olympic dreams.
But the 18 months they couldn’t play upended their training and competition regimen. The Addison table tennis club they train and play at shut down for a time, and they went months without a coach watching over them, the pair said.
“When you don’t compete, you can lose the motivation to train,” their mother, Sangita Santhanam, said. “If you’re training months and months without gauging if you’re getting better, it can get difficult.”
The Naresh brothers, though, have an advantage over other competitors: each other and the ping-pong table set up in the basement of their Lisle home. Most players don’t have the luxury of a highly-ranked competitor living under the same roof, the brothers said.
“A lot of my friends needed to take weeks and months off because they didn’t have the setup or someone else,” Sid said.
Nandan’s presence pushed Sid to be better and to stay motivated, the older brother said.
“I think he’s scared to lose to me,” Nandan joked.
The two will next compete internationally in late November/early December, but not at the same tournament. Sid will be at the Pan Am Junior Games in Cali, Colombia, while Nandan heads to the World Junior and Cadet Championships in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
Also on their schedules is the 2021 Edgeball Chicago International Table Tennis Open in Libertyville on Oct. 30-31 and the Si and Patty Wasserman Junior Tournament in Highland, Indiana, one week later.
Both said the return to international competition was welcome relief as they pursue their dreams of making the Olympics one day.
“The 2024 (Paris) Olympics is a huge goal of mine. I’m doing specific preparations to get ready for that,” Sid said.
“I think realistically it’s the 2028 (Los Angeles) Olympics for me,” Nandan said. “I think I’d have a good shot at qualifying for it.”