India's foreign table tennis coach Leszek Kucharski feels Olympic-bound paddlers Soumyajit Ghosh and Ankita Das can spring a few surprises but they are not among the favourites to win a medal in the London Games.
Indian junior paddlers on Monday made a sweep of the team titles in all the four categories of boys and girls, in the ongoing 12th SAF Junior Table Tennis Championships held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex indoor stadium in Shillong.
Leander Paes is just three shy of completing a century of Grand Slam appearances but is now unsure whether uncertainty caused by coronavirus pandemic will allow him to complete the coveted milestone or for that matter compete at the next year's Tokyo Olympics. Paes had announced that 2020 would be his last season as a professional player but his plan to bid adieu on a high with a record eight appearance at the Olympics, was stalled by the COVID-19 outbreak, which has wrecked the sporting calendar around the world.
The Indian challenge at the Volkswagen 2012 World Junior table tennis championships came to an end when Ayhika Mukerjee and Suthirtha Mukherjee lost their respective pre-quarterfinal matches in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Star Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal and national champion Anthony Amalraj failed to book a berth for the upcoming London Games after crashing out of the World Olympic Qualification Table Tennis Tournament in Doha, Qatar.
Indian Olympic Association's acting president Anil Khanna called it a 'gender-neutral contingent' with 108 men and 107 women being part of the touring party.
Bengal paddlers Soumyajit Ghosh and Ankita Das booked their London Olympics berths on the concluding day of the Asian Olympic Qualification Table Tennis Tournament in Hong Kong, but it was a real heartbreak for top paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal.
Neeraj Chopra launches outreach programme, interacts with students from 75 schools
Hyderabad will host the World Table Tennis Championship scheduled in 2013, TTFI general secretary Dhanraj Choudhary said on Sunday.
The Achanta Sharath Kamal-Poulomi Ghatak and Soumyadeep Roy-Mouma Das pairs went down after a fine showing in the table tennis event at the Asian Games.
In the absence of big names of Indian table tennis, the onus will be on the teenaged duo of Soumyajit Ghosh and Ankita Das to deliver the goods at the London Olympics.
India's representation in the singles events of the World Table Tennis Championship was reduced to just four players, three of them women, after six others failed to qualify for the main draw.
Soumyajit Ghosh's qualification for the London Olympics has taken everyone by surprise. But the Siliguri paddler knows that it will not be a stroll in the park when it comes down to facing European and Chinese giants in London.
India's schedule at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Monday, October 2.
The boxers say they are seeing a focus on the players and their needs for the first time in years
Sathiyan rose four spots to be placed 24th in the latest ITTF rankings, following his impressive sixth place finish in the Asia Cup in Yokohama earlier this month. Last week, he was the sole Indian to reach the round of 32 in the World Championships in Hungary.
Modi on Saturday hosted the Indian contingent at his residence to felicitate the players in New Delhi.
India's campaign at the China Open Super Series Table Tennis ended after Neha Aggarwal lost to Viktoria Pavlovich 0-4 in the women's singles in Changchun, on Friday.
The contingent comprises 277 men and 247 women athletes. In the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, the Indian contingent featured 541 athletes across 28 disciplines.
India's schedule on Day 4 of the Asian Games on Wednesday, September 27.
Sreeshankar said featuring consistently at top international events, like the Diamond Leagues, will be his focus going forward.
Diya Chitale and Manush Shah had also sought the HC's intervention in the matter.
India endured another disappointing day in table tennis competitions at the Asian Games with only the men's doubles pair of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Subhajit Saha progressing to the pre-quarters stage at the Guangzhou Gymnasium in Guangzhou on Tuesday.
Both the teams registered identical 3-0 victories in their respective matches.
Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal was among three Indians who qualified for the men's singles quarter-finals, even as the Indian women's challenge in the individual events ended in the Commonwealth Games Table Tennis competition on Monday. Besides Sharath, A Amalraj and Soumyadeep Roy also entered the last-eight stage.
After being handed out easy draws, Indian paddlers are brimming with confidence ahead of the table tennis team event of the Commonwealth Games starting in New Delhi on Monday.
India cricket captain Virat Kohli and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu were on Monday recommended for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna by the awards selection committee.
Two more Australian athletes have pulled out of the Commonwealth Games in India citing security and health concerns, adding to the growing list of withdrawals from next month's showpiece event.
Sharath Kamal, India's finest ever table tennis player, says he might have played the best match of his almost two-decade career despite ending on the wrong side of the result against the mighty Ma Long at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday.
Hoping for an improved performance in next month's table tennis World Championships in Rotterdam, Indian paddlers will undergo a 21-day training camp in China from April 16 to May 6.
India's Ankita Das fought valiantly and stretched World No 10 China's Ruochen Gu to six games before losing in the quarter-finals of the Volkswagen World Junior Table Tennis Championships, in Bahrain on Sunday.
India's national table tennis coach Massimo Constantini expects his wards to do well in next month's Asian Championship in Lucknow to boost their confidence ahead of next year's Commonwealth Games.
Prajnesh is now ranked 102 in the men's singles rankings with a jump of seven places while Ankita leapfrogged 35 places to a career-high 168 in the women's singles.
Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal's impressive form helped Indian men register their second successive victory, while their women counterparts continued their dismal performance in the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow on Monday.
All these male politicians are unlikely to risk their sinecures to speak up in support of a bunch of women wrestlers who have chosen to challenge a politician who appears to have the ruling regime in a stranglehold, points out Kanika Datta.
Indian paddlers endured a mixed day in individual Table Tennis events of the Asian Games with only Kumaresan Shamini making it to the second round of the mixed and women's singles event in Guangzhou on Monday.
Indian paddlers got off to a spectacular start in the World Table Tennis Championship as all six, including new women's national champion Kumaresan Shamini, spanked their respective opponents 4-0 in their opening matches of the qualifying rounds in Yokohama, Japan, on Tuesday.
With the gold medal eluding them in the team event, Indian paddlers, led by defending champion Achanta Sharath Kamal, will be eyeing to better their performance in the individual competitions of the Commonwealth Games which begins in New Delhi on Monday.
Young Soumyajit Ghosh's maiden appearance at the Olympics was a memorable one as he advanced to the second round of the table tennis event after Ankita Das bowed out on Saturday.
