India’s road to Paris Olympics starts at World Team Table Tennis Championships

The quarterfinalists in men’s and women’s sections will book a ticket to Paris. Apart from that, the teams that make it to the Olympics are guaranteed two singles places in singles.

Sharath Kamal will one of the players to watch out for in the India men’s team. | Photo Credit: AFP via Getty Images

The Indian team will begin its quest for qualification to the Paris Olympics, at the World Team Table Tennis Championships to be held in Busan, Korea Republic, from February 16 to 25.

The Indian men’s team, seeded 16th, has been grouped (3) with Korea, Poland, Chile and New Zealand, while the women’s team, seeded 17th, is in Group (1) with powerhouse China, Hungary, Spain and Uzbekistan. The top three teams in each group (eight in total, with five teams in each group) will reach the knock-out.

The quarterfinalists in men’s and women’s sections will book a ticket to Paris. Apart from that, the teams that make it to the Olympics are guaranteed two singles places in singles.

The Indian women’s team will take on the top seed in China on Friday while the men’s team will face lower-ranked Chile on Saturday.

The Indian teams

Men: Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, G. Sathiyan, Sharath Kamal, Manush Shah.

Women: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Archana Kamath, Ayhika Mukherjee, Diya Chitale.