Indian Paddlers To Attend National Camp In Bengaluru for World Team Table Tennis Championshiop

Top Indian paddlers will attend a nine-day national camp at Sports Authority of India (SAI) Bengaluru ahead of the World Team Table Tennis Championship in South Korea this month, as confirmed by the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).

The camp will be held from February 4 to 12 just before the Indian contingent’s departure. The World Team Championship is scheduled from February 16 to 25 at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center in Busan. All the players bound to participate in the men's and women's teams will be present at the camp.

Top Paddlers At Table Tennis National Camp

"The camp is in Bengaluru. It is for the preparations for the World (Team) Table Tennis Championship. It will be held from the 4th to the departure. The team is expected to leave on the 12th. All the Indian coaches and support staff will be there. We’ve also invited some sparring partners to give practice (to the core team) and those players can also benefit,” TTFI Secretary General Kamlesh Mehta told myKhel.

Veteran paddler Sharath Kamal will lead the charge of the men’s team with India's No.1 ranked Harmeet Desai and G Sathiyan to be key members of the squad. Asian Games men’s doubles quarterfinalists Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah are also part of the squad. As learned by myKhel, India No.6 Snehit Suravajjula is one of the sparring partners at the camp.

In the women’s challenge, World No.36 Manika Batra, Commonwealth Games medalist Sreeja Akula, Asian Games medalist Ayhika Mukherjee, Archana Kamath and Diya Chitale are the selected members.

India’s groups for World Team Table Tennis Championship

The Indian men’s team is drawn with hosts South Korea, Poland, Chile, and New Zealand in Group 3. Meanwhile, the Indian women will face China, Hungary, Spain, and Uzbekistan in Group 1.

Each team will play against four opponents once in a round-robin format, with the top three teams from all eight groups progressing to the knockout stage. All the quarterfinalists from both men's and women's teams will secure Olympic quotas for the Paris Olympics 2024.