Busan: In a historic turn of events, the Indian men’s and women’s table tennis teams have qualified for the Paris Olympics despite encountering defeats in their pre-quarterfinal matches at the ITTF World Table Tennis Team Championships in Busan on Wednesday.
This marks the first time India will qualify for the team event of the Olympics since its inclusion at the Beijing 2008 Games. While the official list of team rankings is scheduled for release on March 4, calculations indicate that both teams have secured berths for Paris.
Although the losses have diminished India’s chances of obtaining automatic team quotas for the 2024 Paris Olympics, advancing to the last eight would have secured automatic berths for the Summer Games.
The men’s team, led by 10-time national champion Sharath Kamal, faced a formidable 3-0 defeat against hosts Korea. On the other hand, the women’s team displayed resilience but lost 1-3 to the higher-ranked Chinese Taipei, featuring World No.10 Cheng I-Ching and World No.41 Szu-Yu Chen.
While Manika Batra and Sreeja were on track to qualify among the women based on rankings, the men’s team, including players like World No.67 Harmeet Desai, veteran Sharath, Sathiyan, and Manav Thakkar, are in contention for the two spots. Sathiyan is also expected to qualify for the mixed doubles event, partnering with Manika Batra.
Sharath Kamal, a 41-year-old veteran who has represented India at four Olympic Games, expressed his dream to play in a team event at the Olympics in a recent statement to The Indian Express. The final decision rests with the Table Tennis Federation of India, promising an interesting battle among the talented players vying for coveted Olympic spots.