Team India suffered a 3-8 defeat against the United States in their opening match of the first stage of the ITTF Mixed Team World Cup 2024 table tennis tournament in Chengdu, People’s Republic of China, on Sunday. With seasoned players such as Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Sharath Kamal, and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran opting out of the tournament, a young Indian table tennis team is representing the nation in Chengdu. In the mixed doubles opener, India’s Snehit Suravajjula and Poymantee Baisya lost 2-1 (12-10, 11-8, 4-11) to the USA’s Naresh Nandan and Ke Tiffany.
In the singles rubbers, Yashaswini Ghorpade and Jeet Chandra were defeated by identical 2-1 margins against Sally Moyland and Xiangjing Zhang, respectively.
World No. 88 Ghorpade was upset 11-9, 11-8, 7-11 by the 186th-ranked Moyland, while World No. 312 Chandra fell 11-9, 11-9, 7-11 to Zhang, ranked 465th in men’s singles.
The men’s doubles rubber saw Snehit Suravajjula and Jeet Chandra lose 2-0 (11-9, 11-9), capping off a disappointing day for India.
According to the tournament format, each rubber, whether singles or doubles, consists of three games. The first team to secure eight games wins the overall team match.
India’s table tennis team will next face hosts China in the ITTF Mixed Team World Cup 2024 on Monday.
The ITTF Mixed Team World Cup is in its second edition, with the inaugural tournament also held in Chengdu last year. Hosts China claimed the championship in the first edition, while India failed to progress beyond the first stage.
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