Table Tennis India aims for medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics

Indian players are laser-focused on the Paris Olympics 2024, where 60 countries are participating in the Table Tennis sport. This time, they will not go to the athletes village to enjoy and meet famous sports stars. Their goal is to bag nothing less than medals.

This is probably the first Olympics when this aim is realistic. We have the experienced Sharath Kamal again along with India's star player, Manika Batra. But this time, we also have Sreeja Akula who has improved by leaps and bounds in the past few years and is now ranked in the elite groups.

India's team medal prospects provide some hope as the teams have players of good strength and experience.

Massimo Costantini is also sensing the ambitious mood of the Indian Table tennis team. A unique fact this time is that there are a few personal coaches, which indicates that the sport has become highly professional and lucrative at the top level.

India Table Tennis team composition:

Men’s team: Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai, and Manav Thakkar; 

Reserve player: G. Sathiyan

Men’s singles: Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai

Women’s team: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, and Archana Kamath; 

Reserve player: Ayhika Mukherjee

Women’s singles: Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula

Top India Women Table Tennis players by World Ranking

The following are the top ranked Indian Women Table Tennis players by World Ranking:

Manika Batra is just out of the top 100. Mouma Das, Ayhika Mukherjee, and Madhurika Patkar follow next. Interestingly, Junior player Archana Kamath, is fifth in this list.

Indian girls led by Ayhika Mukherjee, win Slovak Junior Open Table Tennis team title

India, the top seeds at the Slovak ITTF Junior Open tournament, justified their seeding by clinching the title. Ayhika Mukherjee was the star player for the Indian team ably assisted by Priyadarshini Das and Sreeja Akula.

In the finals, they beat the tough Chinese Taipei team 3-2. Earlier, the girls in form had beaten Bulgaria in another close tie.

Photos courtesy of the ITTF. 

Editor

Madhurikaa Patkar and Amalraj win East Zone National Ranking titles

Madhurikaa Patkar and A Amalraj won the Women's and Men's titles at the East Zone National Ranking Table Tennis tournament at Siliguri. Sutirtha Mukherjee and Abhishek Yadav and won the Youth titles while, Ayhika and Lalrin Puia won the junior titles.

Scores courtesy TTFI. Photos courtesy ITTF.

Men: Final: A Amal Raj (PSPB) bt Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) 4-2 (15-13, 11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 11-8,11-8).

Women: Final: Madhurika Patkar bt Mouma Das 4-0 (11-7, 11-2, 11-4, 11-7).

Junior Boys: Final: Lalrin Puia (PSPBA) bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPBA) 4-2

Junior Girls: Final: Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) bt Sagarika Mukherjee (NB) 4-2

Youth Boys: Final: AbhishekYadav (PSPB) bt Sourav Saha (PSPB) 4-2

Youth Girls: Final: Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Reeth Tennison (PSPB) 4-2

Soumyajit wins a Table Tennis double at Jodhpur

Soumyajit won a creditable double crown at the Central Zone National Table Tennis Championship at Jodhpur. In the Men's final, he beat Sanil Shetty in a closely fought encounter. In the youth final, it was a smoother ride, where he beat Harmeet Desai. Another London Olympian, Ankita Das won the Youth girls finals. K Shamini bagged the women's singles title beating giant killer Manika Batra.

Men: Final: Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 9-11, 13-11, 8-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6; Semifinals: Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7, Sanil Shetty (PSPB) bt Sourav Saha (PSPB) 11-8, 11-7, 14-12, 9-11, 4-11, 11-5.


Women: Final: K. Shamini (PSPB) bt Manika Batra (Del) 6-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-6, 11-4; Semifinals: Manika Batra Del) bt Soumi Mandal (PSPB) 10-12, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6; K. Shamini (PSPB) bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 6-11, 11-6, 11-3, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9.

Youth Boys: Final: Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6; Semifinals: Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt G.Sathiyan (PSPB) 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5, 16-14, Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt T. Nitin (AAI) 11-9, 1107, 11-4, 11-9.

Youth Girls: Final: Ankita Das (PSPB) bt Krittiwika Sinha Roy (AAI) 7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-2, 11-7; Semifinals: Krittwika Sinha Roy (AAI) Yukti Roshini (TN) 11-9, 80-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-7, Ankita Das (PSPB) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (WB) 11-8, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4.

Sutirtha Mukherjee is the Table Tennis star at Gue

Sutirtha Mukherjee stole the limelight in the Guatemala 2012 Guatemala Junior & Cadet Open - ITTF Junior Circuit tournament by winning 3 titles! Congrats Sutirtha!

Photo: Ayhika Mukherjee, who won the Cadet doubles along with Sutirtha.

Editor, www.TableTennisBug.com

India dominates Table Tennis competition at Dehradun

Soumyajit Ghosh aka Royal Bengal Tiger

India stole the limelight at the ONGC 2011 Indian Junior & Cadet Open - ITTF Premium Junior Circuit Table Tennis tournament,28 Sep 2011 - 02 Oct 2011, Dehradun, India.


Soumyajit aka Royal Bengal Tiger was the star of the show. He claimed the Junior Boys Singles and Doubles titles. 
India's only major loss was the Junior Girls title, where pint-sized Thailand's Pannak Piyaporn beat India's formidable Mallika Bhandarkar and Ankita Das to win the title.


Results (finals - Countries mentioned, otherwise India):

Junior Boys Singles
Soumyajit Ghosh beat Harmeet Desai 4-11,11-5,11-6,14-16,9-11,11-3,11-5 
Junior Girls Singles
Pannak Piyaporn (THA) beat Ankita Das 8-11,11-7,11-6,11-6,14-12
Cadet Boys Singles
Abhishek Yadav beat Utkarsh Gupta 6-11,11-8,11-8,5-11,11-6
Cadet Girls Singles
Anuska Dutta beat Ayhika Mukherjee 9-11, 8-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-4