The Indian men's and women's table tennis teams will make history by qualifying for the Olympics by securing the final world ranking position, despite losing their pre-quarterfinal matches at the ITTF World Table Tennis Team Championships in Busan on Wednesday. For the first time since table tennis was added to the Olympics in Beijing 2008, India will make it to the team event. Both table tennis teams have qualified for Paris; however, the official list of team rankings will be revealed on March 4.
Indian TT scripting history
"The men's and women's teams performed admirably, and we are proud of them; we are now awaiting the official announcement that we have qualified for the Paris Olympics, which will be made on March 5th," said Kamlesh Mehta, Table Tennis Federation of India general secretary.
The men's table tennis team, led by 10-time national champion Sharath Kamal, was defeated 3-0 by a far superior team from hosts Korea. Despite a valiant effort, the women were defeated 1-3 by Chinese Taipei, who were led by World No. 10 Cheng I-Ching and World No. 41 Szu-Yu Chen.
"The entire team is very excited, we have been looking forward to this day for a very long time, and we're delighted that we've cut for the Olympics though we have to wait for the quota to be confirmed officially, it's truly a fantastic team effort by everyone, the coaches, support staff, federation, and SAI, I think it's truly historic for something like this to happen, to qualify as a team in both men's and women's," the top male athlete in India, Gnanasekaran
Indian TT in Paris Olympics
Because only 16 teams qualify, the sport is closely contested, especially since two wins at the Olympics secure a medal. Additionally, it's a highly sought-after tournament because it comes with two guaranteed Olympic singles spots.
Manika Batra and Sreeja would have qualified among the ladies based on rankings, but the men would gain a great deal from this. World No. 67 Harmeet Desai, seasoned Sharath, Sathiyan, and Manav Thakkar will compete for the two berths, with the Table Tennis Federation of India potentially making the final decision. Sathiyan ought to earn a spot in the mixed doubles competition with Manika Batra as her partner.
Indian TT on the rise
Since Sharath won a medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Indian table tennis has grown in popularity. Its expansion has only accelerated over the last ten years, particularly when Manika came to prominence at the 2018 Gold Coast CWG with her four-medal haul. She then partnered with Sharath to win a bronze in mixed doubles at the Asian Games, which was a first for India. Then, in their home country of Hangzhou, Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee accomplished the unthinkable by defeating a top Chinese combination to win a bronze in the women's doubles competition.
The entire Indian delegation in Busan would be happy to have made it to the Olympics, but they also understand that team spirit will have to suffer till the qualification window closes.
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