At the Asian Games in Jakarta 5 years in the past, the Indian desk tennis contingent ended a 60-year medal drought by means of securing a bronze within the males’s staff tournament and combined doubles, surpassing expectancies.
The Table Tennis Federation of India’s senior variety committee has selected a squad of 5 males and 5 ladies for each the twenty sixth Asian Championships in Pyeongchang, Korea, and the nineteenth Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
The Asian Championships will happen from September 3 to ten, whilst the Asian Games will likely be held from September 23 to October 2.
Sharath Kamal, who’s most likely collaborating in his ultimate continental video games, will lead the boys’s staff, consisting of G Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkarand Manush Shah.
In the ladies’s class, Manika Batra will information a tender staff comprising Sreeja AkulaSutirtha Mukherjee, Ayhika Mukherjee, and Diya Chitale.
Due to restrictions permitting simplest two singles entries consistent with gender on the Asian Games, the selectors have selected Sharath, Sathiyan, Manika, and Sreeja for the boys’s and girls’s singles occasions, respectively.
The selectors have justified their choice and religion in accordance with the selected folks’ recognition, revel in and international score issues.
However, within the Asian Championships, there aren’t any such barriers, and the entire women and men gamers are eligible to play within the singles occasions.
Sharath will play simplest within the males’s doubles. Hangzhou and Manika within the combined doubles, each combining with Sathiyan.
“Sharath and Manika have opted out of other doubles events giving a free hand to the selectors on the premise that they would not want to disturb the pairs already performing well,” stated the TTFI in a commentary.
The left-right aggregate of Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar would be the 2d males’s doubles squad.
In the ladies’s doubles, the selectors have long past with the pair of Ayhika and Sutirtha following its implausible identify win in Tunis and Sreeja and Diya would be the 2d duo. Harmeet will pair up with Sreeja in the second one combined doubles.
Sharath and Manika had paired up in Indonesia 5 years in the past to safe a memorable bronze.
The squads:
Men: A. Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah.
Reserve: 1. SFR Snehit, 2. Sanil Shetty.
Women: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Ayhika Mukherjee and Diya Chitale.
Reserve: 1. Archana Kamath, 2. Reeth Rishya.
Men’s Doubles: A. Sharath Kamal/G. Sathiyan and Manav Thakkar/Manush Shah.
Women’s Doubles: Sutirtha Mukherjee/Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula/Diya Chitale.
Mixed Doubles: Manika Batra/G. Sathiyan and Sreeja Akula/Harmeet Desai.
(With PTI inputs)