Great feeling: The Indian gamers are delighted to be enjoying within the quadrennial occasion as a workforce.
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For the primary time within the historical past of Indian table tennis, the National males’s and girls’s teams certified for the Olympics by way of the World workforce rankings, the ultimate checklist of which was launched on Monday. The Indian males’s workforce is ranked 15 whereas the ladies are 13.
“It is a very big achievement. It’s been a long process. A big thanks to the Executive Committee of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), coaches and players who have made it happen,” TTFI secretary Kamlesh Mehta instructed The Hindu.
It shall be a four-member workforce whereby the fourth participant shall be a substitute. However, it is perhaps a tricky name for TTFI to make as a result of within the ‘Race to Paris’ rankings in singles, all of the 4 gamers are preventing for a spot in singles in addition to within the workforce. Sharath is on the prime at 53 adopted by Manav Thakkar (57), Harmeet Desai (57) and G. Sathiyan (62).
As for the 2 spots in singles in women and men being obtainable on account of the workforce making it to Paris, the TTFI Secretary, mentioned, “we will decide on it (who will play singles) as we have time till June 18 to give the names [to ITTF].”
Manika Batra.
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Planning forward
Harmeet urged TTFI to launch the workforce checklist by the month of May in order that gamers get sufficient time to arrange. “It’s great India has qualified. I hope TTFI comes up with the final list of who will make up the team, and who plays doubles (a tie in Olympics consists of four singles and one doubles) by May so that we get enough time to prepare,” he mentioned.
G. Sathiyan mentioned, “It is a historic achievement. It’s a double bonanza that women have made the cut. Our first goal was to qualify and we have been working for a long time to improve our world rankings.
“My focus will be on making the cut for Olympics in mixed doubles with Manika Batra.”
One final shot
Sharath Kamal, a veteran of 4 Olympics, mentioned it’s a nice feeling of enjoying within the quadrennial occasion as a workforce.
“It is going to my last Olympics. If we can make the quarters, it will be huge.” Sharath mentioned he’ll play in fairly a number of WTT tournaments to see how his singles type is. “I will play in the Singapore Smash and Saudi Smash tournaments,” he mentioned.
Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula have been assured of a spot within the Indian girls’s workforce because of their World rankings.
The third spot within the workforce will most likely be a toss-up between Ayhika Mukherjee, who surprised girls’s World No.1 Sun Yingsha of China within the World teams in Busan, and Archana Kamath.
