New Delhi, July 26: Filled with some seasoned stars, top-seeded India will begin as strong favourites to land the men’s team title in the 22nd Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships which begins here on Monday.
In the men’s section, India’s medal hopes will rest on an experienced core led by G. Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah and Payas Jain.
But despite India’s favourable seeding and home advantage, they are unlikely to have it easy in the tournament that ends on August 2.
Australia and England remain formidable opponents in the men’s competition.
In the women’s category, Singapore leads the seedings, followed by India and Australia.
Manika misses out
India’s campaign in the women’s section will be led by Sreeja Akula, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Yashaswini Ghorpade, Syndrela Das and Swastika Ghosh.
However, star player Manika Batra is not a part of the squad, which was picked alongside the one for the upcoming Asian Games.
Batra is in the reserves’ list for the continental showpiece along with Swastika, who is in the main squad for Commonwealth event.
India’s biggest challenge comes from top-seeded Singapore, while Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and South Africa also possess enough quality to challenge the top two.
In all, the event will see participation from 23 men’s teams and 18 women’s teams.
This edition of the event is also carrying a record prize money of USD 110,000.
The team competition will be played under the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation’s three-stage format, guaranteeing every team at least six matches before the championship rounds.
Teams progressing from the group phase will move into the knockout stage, while the remaining sides will compete in classification matches to determine their final standings. (PTI)
