Veteran Sharath Kamal and star female player Manika Batra were on Wednesday named in the India squad for the 27th Asian Table Tennis Championships, scheduled to be held in Astana, from October 7 to 13. Sharath, the 42-year-old who recently featured in his fifth and last Olympics, is the captain of the men’s team comprising Manav Thakkar, Harmeet Desai, G Sathiyan and Manush Shah. Manika will lead the women’s team which also has Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee, Diya Chital and Sutirtha Mukherjee.

“The selection process was rigorous, with the TTFI giving precedence to the world ranking, international experience, and performance at the national level as key criteria for the final squad,” said the TTFI in a statement.

The Indian team has been under the guidance of foreign expert Massimo Constantini, who has been working to fine-tune the players’ skills and strategies since his return to India in June.

“I am hopeful they will put their best foot forward in the Asthana championships,” Constantini said.

The squad, especially the women, had done well in the Paris Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals. The men’s team had lost to the mighty China in the round of 16. It was the first time that India qualified for team events at the Olympics.

As a crucial qualification event for the World Table Tennis Championships and the Asian Games, the Asian Championships hold significant importance for the Indian team.

Men’s Team: A. Sharath Kamal (captain), Manav Thakkar, Harmeet Desai, G. Sathiyan, Manush Shah; Reserve Players: SFR Snehit and Jeet Chandra.

Women’s Team: Sreeja Akula, Manika Batra (captain), Ayhika Mukherjee, Diya Chitale, Sutirtha Mukherjee; Reserve Players: Yashaswini Ghorpade and Poymantee Baisya.

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Led by Achanta Sharath Kamal, Chennai Lions bounced back in style from their previous loss in Ultimate Table Tennis 2024 by defeating Dabang Delhi TTC 8-7 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Sunday. Home favourite Sharath, who is the league’s highest-ranked male Indian paddler, showed his class in a 2-1 win over Dabang Delhi TTC’s Andreas Levenko in the tie’s first men’s singles, unleashing a range of powerful smashes on the Austrian making his debut in the fifth season of UTT.

Sharaths’s win set the tone for the tie, with his teammates following suit later on.

The franchise-based league is promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI). 

Subsequently, in the tie’s first women’s singles, Sakura Mori defeated Orawan Paranang, 2-1, to extend Chennai Lions’ lead. Mori proved her prowess in difficult circumstances, staying in control of the match despite repeated fightbacks from her opponent. While the Japanese paddler took the opening two games, her Thai counterpart varied her approach in the third and claimed a consolation victory, reducing Dabang Delhi TTC’s deficit. 

The mixed doubles match between the two teams followed the same trend, as Chennai Lions’ pairing of Sharath and Mori beat Dabang Delhi TTC’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Paranang 2-1. The hosts secured the tie in the very next match, with Jules Rolland defeating local boy Sathiyan two games to one. 

In the final match of the tie, Dabang Delhi TTC’s Diyale Chitale scripted personal history. The Mumbai girl, who used to watch UTT as a fan from the stands, won her first match ever in the league in her second year. She beat Poymantee Baisya 3-0. 

For her impressive victory, Chitale scooped the Indian Player of the Tie honour. Meanwhile, Chennai Lions’ Mori claimed the Foreign Player of the Tie gong, while Rolland was awarded with DafaNews Shot of the Tie award. 

Tomorrow’s only tie will see the PBG Bengaluru Smashers take on Puneri Paltan TT at 17:00, with both teams looking to take a significant step forward. 

UTT 2024 is being broadcast live on Sports18 Khel and streamed online on JioCinema (India) and Facebook Live (Outside India). Tickets are available online on BookMyShow and offline at the box office near Gate no. 1 of the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.

Athlead Goa Challengers vs Jaipur Patriots, UTT, Live Updates© X (Twitter)

Indian table tennis is headed in the right direction thanks to the advent of the UTT tournament which attracts top players from across the world, feels Manika Batra, who is the most prominent face of the women’s game in the country. Manika and Sreeja Akula recently made history by becoming the first Indian table tennis players to reach the Olympics singles pre-quarterfinals in Paris. Next, the 29-year-old Manika will represent Bengaluru Smashers in the eight-team Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) competition, which gets underway here on Thursday.

“Personally, it has helped me because the players come for UTT from different countries, and we play against them, we play with them,” Manika told reporters in Chennai on Wednesday.

“It’s really fun, and we enjoy this. I can see the growth that’s happening, especially in women’s table tennis in India, how we all are performing internationally. We have improved a lot from UTT.” Manika lost to Miu Hirano of Japan 0-3 in the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals in Paris. In the team event, India, who were represented by Manika, Sreeja and Archana Kamath, lost to Germany 1-3 in the quarterfinals.

In the UTT, one of Manika’s most anticipated contests will be against world No. 13, Bernadette Szocs of Romania, who will play for Ahmedabad SG Pipers.

The two players also clashed during the pre-quarterfinals of the team event in Paris Olympics, with India winning the tie 3-2.

Bernadette said, “I love to play here; I love all the fans who are very big supporters of table tennis. And, of course, always when I come here, everything is perfect with good organisation.” Veteran Sharath Kamal, who will lead Chennai Lions in UTT, feels the performance graph of Indian players is going up gradually.

“This is the first time both Indian teams, men and women, qualified for the Olympic Games in the team event. The girls went further; they went on to play in the quarterfinals in the team event, and especially Manika and Sreeja got into the last 16 in the individual event,” Sharath pointed out.

“So, performances like this have been constantly coming up, and India has been constantly growing in the international arena, and we look forward to more growth.” Nigerian legend Quadri Aruna returns to the tournament, and his clash against Sharath is expected to be one of the highlights of the tournament.

“With huge spending on the sport of table tennis in India, we have seen huge growth. Indian players are already title contenders in most of the tournaments in the world. So, I think table tennis has improved a lot in India,” expressed Aruna, who will be representing U Mumba TT.

UTT 2024 squads:

Ahmedabad SG Pipers: Manush Shah, Bernadette Szocs (Romania), Lilian Bardet (France), Reeth Tennison, Pritha Vartikar, Jash Modi.

Chennai Lions: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sakura Mori (Japan), Jules Rolland (France), Poymantee Baisya, Mouma Das, Abhinandh PB.

Dabang Delhi TTC: Sathiyan G, Orawan Paranang (Thailand), Diya Chitale, Andreas Levenko (Austria), Yashansh Malik, Lakshita Narang.

Athlead Goa Challengers: Harmeet Desai, Yangzi Liu (Australia), Yashaswini Ghorpade, Sudhanshu Grover, Sayali Wani, Mihai Bobocica (Italy).

Jaipur Patriots: Cho Seungmin (South Korea), Suthasini Sawettabut (Thailand), Snehit SFR, Ronit Bhanja, Moumita Dutta, Nithyashree Mani.

PBG Bengaluru Smashers: Manika Batra, Alvaro Robles (Spain), Lily Zhang (USA), Jeet Chandra, Taneesha Kotecha, Amalraj Anthony.

Puneri Paltan Table Tennis: Ayhika Mukherjee, Natalia Bajor (Poland), Joao Monteiro (Portugal), Ankur Bhattacharjee, Anirban Ghosh, Yashini Sivashankar.

U Mumba TT: Manav Thakkar, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Aruna Quadri (Nigeria), Akash Pal, Kavyasree Baskar, Maria Xiao (Spain). 

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Having played an important role in India clinching gold medals in the team competition in the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games, star Indian paddler Harmeet Desai believes India has the ability to upset any team at the Olympic Games in Paris. On Thursday, he insisted that the team’s preparation was well on track to perform at their optimum best in the French capital. The Indian TT contingent made history earlier this year when both the men’s and women’s teams qualified for the Olympics for the first time and the preparatory camps, in Bengaluru from June 7-16 and in Saarbrucken, Germany earlier this month, were focused on working out the perfect combinations for the team events at the Paris Olympics, scheduled from July 26 to August 11.

“On a given day, I think we really have a very good chance of beating any team. We have won against top teams in the world in the past and it is possible this time also if we give our best. In the Olympics, if all three of us can put on the best show then anything is possible,” the 31-year-old Desai said during an interview with Ultimate Table Tennis.

Desai is part of the Indian men’s team along with Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manav Thakkar and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran. He will also be competing in the individual events.

Desai’s confidence stems from the fact that the Indian men’s team had defeated the mighty Japan in the quarterfinals to clinch the bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games.

Speaking about the rise of Indian table tennis on the world stage, Desai credited the central government’s various schemes and the launch of Ultimate Table Tennis in 2017 for the development of the sport.

“UTT has helped us get more experience and exposure to play with international players and get guidance from foreign coaches. That was not the case before 2017. So, this kind of experience has helped the players get more self-belief and perform well in the international arena,” he said.

The Indian men’s team will face China in the opening round while the women’s team will open their campaign against Romania. The individual events will be played from July 27 to August 4 whereas the team events are scheduled from August 5 to 10.

After the Paris Olympics, India’s representatives at the Games and upcoming talent from the country will rub shoulders against each other and some international stars in the Ultimate Table Tennis 2024, scheduled to take place in Chennai from August 22 to September 7.

Indian men’s table tennis team is set to face a formidable challenge as they compete against four-time gold medalists China in the opening round of the Paris Olympics. The women’s team, meanwhile, will face Romania in the round of 16. They could face, the Rio 2016 silver medallists Germany, in the second round. Notably, India have qualified for team events in table tennis for the first time. On the other hand, China have won the gold medal in the men’s event at all the editions, since the introduction of team events at the Olympics in 2008.

In the singles women’s singles event, star paddler Manika Batra, who is seeded 18, will begin her campaign against Anna Hursey, teenager from Great Britain.

Manika, who is competing in her third Olympics after making her debut in Rio 2016, made it to the third round at Tokyo 2020 in women’s singles. Hursey, on the other hand, will be making her Olympic debut.

Another Indian, Sreeja Akula was seeded 16, and will take on Sweden’s Christina Kallberg in her round-of-64 match.

In men’s singles, veteran Sharath Kamal, who will mark his record fifth Olympic appearance, will face 27-year-old Deni Kozul of Slovenia in the opening round.

Harmeet Desai, meanwhile, will start his campaign in the preliminary round. Desai will face Zaid Abo Yaman of Jordan on July 27.

The preliminary round in men’s and women’s singles will include three matches each. The winners of the preliminary round will qualify for the round of 64.

Harmeet will face world no. 5 Frenchman Felix Lebrun if he wins the preliminary round.

Table tennis competitions at Paris Olympics will take place between July 27 to August 10.

All five competitions – men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles, men’s team and women’s team will be played at the South Paris Arena.

Indian table tennis veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal and ace shuttler and two-time medallist PV Sindhu share excitement for the ‘one-time opportunity’ of being flagbearers for the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, scheduled on Friday. Sharath Kamal, who will feature in his record fifth Olympics, was selected as India’s flagbearer in March this year but Sindhu was named as the female flagbearer earlier this month.

“Waiting for July 26 (Friday), when we’ll be leading the Indian contingent at the opening ceremony in Paris (Olympics). It’s been a moment that I’ve been dreaming and visualising about, for the last 3-4 months. I’m pretty excited that I’m going to live that moment and especially that I’m going to do that with PV Sindhu. So, it’s a fantastic moment, I would say,” said Sharath Kamal.

Notably, in 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) updated its protocol, permitting one female and and one male athlete from each NOC to bear the flag jointly during the opening ceremony of the Summer Games.

Sindhu is India’s only female athlete who has won multiple Olympic medals. The ace shuttler won the silver medal in the women’s singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics and followed that with a bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

“Yes, I’m very happy to be the flag bearer with our fellow Indian, Sharath Kamal. It’s a proud moment for both of us and of course, it’s a one time opportunity for anyone to be a flag bearer and representing our country, and it’s at the Olympics, standing there, right in the front, holding an Indian flag, it’s a very proud moment for both of us and of course he’s like a super senior to me. I’ve known him for a very, very long time, so it’s always nice to be holding a flag with the fellow Indians,” said Sindhu.

Sindhu, on the other hand, will be playing in her third consecutive Olympics and is excited for the competition to begin, where she will be eyeing her third consecutive medal to become the most decorated Indian athlete at the Olympics.

“I am super proud to be here at Olympic village. This will be my third Olympics, and really excited for the competition to begin. At the same time, I will be the flag bearer for the Indian contingent and I am super proud… I will be holding the bigger flag at the opening ceremony and I hope, with the same excitement, I do well in the competition and get a medal back to India,” Sindhu added.

Paris 2024 will mark the first time in the history of the Olympic Summer Games that the opening ceremony is held outside a stadium. This outdoor concept also makes it the largest opening ceremony in terms of audience and geographical coverage.

Almost 100 boats carrying an estimated 10,500 athletes will float along the Seine during the parade. The larger of the 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) represented in the parade will have boats to themselves, while the smaller ones will share boats.

Ace Indian paddler and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra will take on Great Britain’s Anna Hursey in the women’s singles opening round, while veteran men’s player Achanta Sharath Kamal will clash with Deni Kozul of Slovenia on July 27, according to the draws announced on Wednesday. Manika, who is seeded 18th at the Games here, had become the first women’s table tennis player from India to make it to the round of 32 in singles at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

In other opening round matches, Harmeet Desai will take on Abo Yaman of Jordan in men’s singles, while 25-year-old Sreeja Akula, seeded 16th, will open her campaign against Swedish player Christina Kallberg.

Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal is spearheading a six-member Indian table tennis contingent with the 41-year-old all set to make his fifth appearance at the Olympics. Manika, on the other hand, will play at her third successive Games.

Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, a member of India’s gold medal-winning men’s teams at both the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and Birmingham respectively, could not make it to the main squad and has been selected as a reserve player.

Manika had recently touched a career-best ranking of world No. 24 following her superb run in the Saudi Smash.

In the women’s team event, 11th-seeded India will open their campaign against fourth seeds Romania.

Besides Manika and Sreeja, the third member in the team women’s team event is Archana Kamath. Ayhika Mukherjee is the reserve player in the category. The team winning will straightaway enter the quarterfinals.

The Indian men’s team comprising Sharath Kamal, Manav Thakkar and national champion Harmeet, will have a trial by fire as they will face top-ranked China in the opening round.

The Paris Games will mark the first time that India will compete in the team event at the Olympics. The men’s and women’s team events in table tennis were introduced at 2008 Beijing Games.