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The Asian Games 2023 is around the corner and the fifth-ranked India in the all-time medal tally of the continental showpiece is reckoned to thrive in Hangzhou, China. Table Tennis is one of the most promising among the 39 sporting disciplines in which India will participate this year.
The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) named a 10-member India squad for the Asian Games on July 7. There is an exciting blend of experience and youth as the country aims to add to the two table tennis medals bagged in the previous edition in Jakarta.
Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra will lead the men's and women's teams, respectively, with the former set for his last hurrah at the quadrennial event. World No. 107 Gnansekaran Sathiyan along with Sharath will represent in the two allotted slots for men’s singles from each team and both will also team up in the men’s doubles.
The left-right young duo of Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar is the second pair in the men’s doubles. Although Harmeet Desai wasn’t considered for the men’s singles based on the rankings in June, he will play the singles in the men’s team event alongside Sharath and Sathiyan.
Manika and reigning national champion Sreeja Akula will play in the women’s singles category. Sreeja will pair with Diya Chitale in the women’s doubles and the victorious pair of the WTT Contender Tunis, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee, being the other pair.
World No.8 paired Sathiyan and Manika will lead India’s medal hopes in the mixed doubles after the latter bagged the bronze in the event alongside Sharath Kamal in Jakarta five years ago. Harmeet and Sreeja will team up for the first time in mixed doubles for a major event.
How have the Indian players clicked in the build-up to Asia Games?
The Indian contingent recently participated in the biennial Asian Table Tennis Championships event in South Korea from September 3 to 10. In the six-team tournament, India managed to bag only a bronze medal in the men’s team event across seven categories.
It certainly raises a major concern over the members’ form ahead of the Asiad given that they will play the same opponents in the next week. The players need to regroup along with the coaching staff to work on their respective shortcomings to better the previous edition’s performance.
After attaining the career-best ranking of World No. 5 in November last year, Sathiyan and Manika have only managed to once qualify in the quarter-finals this year at the Singapore Smash. They crashed out of the World Championships (Round of 16) and Asian Championships (Round of 32).
Harmeet and Sreeja lost in the second round to the Japanese top-seeded pair of Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata 0-3 at the Asian Championships earlier in the month. Since winning Commonwealth mixed doubles gold with Sharath Kamal, Sreeja hasn’t had a regular partner in the mixed event. She played with Manush in the earlier months of the year before rejoining Harmeet in the continental championships.
Sreeja and Harmeet have played only three times with in the past and the pair needs better coordination and communication between the rallies. Even though Harmeet will play his third Asiad, the Surat-born paddler makes his mixed doubles debut in this year's continental showpiece. Harmeet won the bronze at the WTT Contender in Lagos and will be key in the men’s team event.
The young pair of Sreeja and Diya Chitale have been impressive in the last few months. They made it to the semi-finals of the WTT Contender in Zagreb before going down to Jeon-ji-Hee and Shin Yubin.
Ayhika and Sutirtha are likely to surprise in Hangzhou as the pair has been in terrific form this year. The Kolkata paddlers clinched India’s first WTT title this year in Tunis after outplaying Japan’s Miyu Kihara and Miwa Harimoto in the women’s doubles final by 3-1. They also entered the quarter-finals of the Asian Championships where they lost to China in three straight sets.
The men’s team has managed to bag a medal in the last three continental events. However, they will have to up their game with speed, agility, and quick moments to overhaul their Chinese Taipei and South Korean counterparts.
All eyes will be on Manika Batra after she became the first woman to win a medal (bronze) at the Asian Cup Table Tennis 2022 in December last year. She will be hungry to prove her mettle after failing to finish on the podium at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Sharath Kamal, on the other hand, will have to escalate his fitness as the 41-year-old has to match up with the younger lot. He could only manage to advance to the second round in South Korea, losing to Japan’s 23-year-old Yuta Tanaka 0-3.
