Asian Table Tennis Championships: Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra to lead Indian team
Sep 02, 2023
New Delhi [India], September 2 : Veteran paddler Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra will spearhead the Indian team at the Asian Table Tennis Championships 2023 scheduled to be held in Pyeongchang in South Korea from September 3 to 10.
The 26th edition of the continental championships is also a qualification tournament for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The winners of the two team events (men and women) and the mixed doubles will each secure a spot at the Summer Games next year.
The India men’s team are seeded third at the Pyeongchang table tennis meet while the women’s team are fifth, as per Olympics.com.
The Asian Table Tennis Championships will also feature men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, and women's doubles competitions.
India have a 10-man team, with five men and as many women. The 41-year-old star paddler Kamal and Harmeet Desai, the only Indian table tennis player ranked in the top 100 in men's singles, are among them.
India's star paddle Manika Batra is currently the highest-ranked singles player from India. Sreeja Akula, at world No. 85, is the only other Indian woman in the top 100. India's best chance appear to be in the mixed doubles. Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran are the world's eighth-ranked pair.
