MILPITAS, Calif.  Young people who were serious about table tennis used to have to make the trip to Beijing, Stockholm or Moscow to train with world-class coaches.

Now they go no farther than this Silicon Valley suburb.

“I’m trying to become one of the greatest players in the nation,” Srivatsav Tangirala, 14, said matter-of-factly between drills at the huge new table tennis facility here. He and three dozen players, some as young as 5, sprinted sideways along the edge of the tables, 45 times in a row, perfecting their footwork.

“Lean forward, lean, lean, lean, lean!" their coach implored.

This is the largest training program for youths in the country, run by the India Community Center in an area that is 60 percent Asian. Here, Ping-Pong parents who grew up with the sport in Sichuan Province or Hyderabad are the new soccer moms and Little League dads.

One of 12 table tennis clubs in the area, up from 5 clubs in 1990, the India Community Center’s Ping-Pong facility was started last year with seed money from two Indian entrepreneurs and has already become an influential hatchery for Olympic hopefuls, most of whom banter in Hindi or Mandarin at home.