New Delhi, Jul 24 (IANS): Canada's Dejan Papik has been appointed as the chief coach of India's table tennis team. On Tuesday, Papik accepted the one-year contract which was offered to him by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

The Indian team has been playing without a coach since the Asian Games in Jakarta last year. Without a coach, the Indian team suffered a lot of defeats in several important tournaments. However, in the recently concluded Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship, India won the gold medal in all the categories.

It is reported that the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) had short-listed Papic back in March but the contract was sent to him by SAI only a couple of weeks back.

A TTFI official said: "Our former coach Massimo Costantini brought a lot of success to the team. We hope the new coach will also take the team to the new heights of success."

"I would like to clarify we (TTFI) do not choose the coach. The appointment is made by SAI," he added.