Commonwealth Games 2018: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra to headline India's table tennis contingent

Ahead of the XXI Commonwealth Games, which is going to be held in Gold Coast, Australia from the 5th to the 15th of April, India has been busy preparing for the major event.

Sportskeeda can confirm that Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai and Amalraj Anthony Arputharaj make up the men's Table Tennis squad. The women's squad is constituted of Manika Batra, Mouma Das, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe.

India's flag of hope is fluttering at an all-time high with the promising performances of the team members in the recent matches. With Sharath, who has already been decorated with a gold medal in the 2004 Commonwealth table tennis championship, is looking to add more feathers to his cap this time.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Sharath Kamal recently upped their game considerably and managed to stun the world by toppling the World Number 7, Koki Niwa and World Number 27, Yuya Oshima in their respective matches to enter the men's singles pre-quarterfinals of the ITFF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open that was held in March.

Along with the splendid men's team with arguably the best Indian table tennis player, Sharath Kamal present, the women's team looks no less strong with the likes of Manika Batra and Mouma Das who have been embellished with several medals in their career. Mouma has bagged an enviable 17 medals in the Commonwealth TT, which is the most for any Indian paddler.

The chances of the Indian table tennis team look brighter than ever with such a wonderful medley of people who are sure to bring home laurels from the upcoming XXI Commonwealth Games. The team is remarkably strong and India's chances are largely optimistic and considering the recent performances of the players, it is safe to declare that we are going to have a good spell in Commonwealth table tennis this time.