Indian Table Tennis players slam scheduling

Indian women beat Qatar 3-0 in the morning before going down to the mighty Chinese 0-3 in the afternoon session. They are scheduled to play Iran in the evening session.

The Sharath Kamal-led Indian men’s team is scheduled to play two matches. (File Photo)

The Indian table tennis contingent on Sunday slammed the scheduling of the team competition at the Asian Games, with the women having to play as many as three matches on the opening day.

Indian women beat Qatar 3-0 in the morning before going down to the mighty Chinese 0-3 in the afternoon session. They are scheduled to play Iran in the evening session.

The Sharath Kamal-led men’s team is scheduled to play two matches. It has beaten UAE 3-0 and play Chinese Taipei later to potentially decide the group winner.

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“They have really messed it up with the scheduling here. Two matches in a day are still fine, but three is a bit too much. I have not seen such scheduling in the earlier games,” Sharath said.

The Indian men’s team is expected to reach the quarterfinals. The top two teams in each group qualify for the quarterfinals.

“If we lose to Taipei, we will have to play Vietnam at 4pm tomorrow to decide the second and third position. If we win, then we play the quarterfinals at 8 pm. It is absurd,” he added. If the women’s team beats Iran, it will reach the quarterfinals.