India will send 117 athletes to the Paris Olympics, starting July 26 in the French capital. This will be India's second-biggest contingent at an Olympic Games after 121 athletes went to Tokyo in 2021. A total of 47 female and 70 male athletes will be part of the Indian contingent at the Games.
The India's men and women table tennis teams had easy starts to their respective campaigns with identical 3-0 victories over Barbados and South Africa in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Friday.
Commonwealth Games gold medalist Manika Batra said reading books, meditation, and watching TV series are some of the activities which is helping her spend time during the coronavirus enforced nationwide lockdown. The Indian table tennis star also stressed the importance of working on physical fitness and staying positive as the country continues to reel under the pandemic.
Check out India's schedule on Day 4 of the Tokyo Olympics.
In the semi-finals, Manika will meet the winner of the match between Korea's Jeon Jihee and Japan's Mima Ito.
'We both are really working hard, and, of course there are many things on which we are focussing right now, on and off the table.'
India can be among top five nations in table tennis, feels G Sathiyan
Six medals from a 117-strong contingent is not ideal but India had its moments of joy, hope, frustration, and heartache.
The Indian women's team came from behind to beat Spain 3-2 in its final group game and progressed to the knockout phase.
Sathiyan and Batra defeated Thailand's Napat Thanmathikom and Suthasini Sawettabut 10-12, 11-8, 11-3, 11-8.
India had exceeded expectations at 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia by winning three gold, a couple of silver and three bronze medals.
Check out how India's athletes fared on Day 10, Monday, August 5, 2024:
Check out how India's athletes fared on Day 5, Wednesday, July 31, 2024:
Earlier in the day, the Indian women's table tennis team of Diya Parag Chitale, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee scripted a facile 3-0 victory over Nepal.
A look at how India's athletes fared on Day 2, on Sunday, July 28, 2024:
Janendra Jain and Parth Goswami are the two lawyers in the panel while Yashpal Rana is the other member.
Manika Batra and Archana Kamath defeated Hungary's Dora Madarasz and Georgina Pota 11-4, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7 in the women's doubles round of 16.
The Indian women's team finished sixth in the Asian Table Tennis Championships after being blanked 0-3 by Thailand in Pyeongchang on Tuesday.
Sumit storms into Thailand open boxing semi-finals
The Indian men's table tennis team of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Achanta Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai started their Asian Games campaign on a resounding note, as they demolished Yemen 3-0.
40-year-old Sharath showed that age was just a number.
Manika Batra was knocked out of the World Singles Olympic Qualification Tournament after she suffered a 1-4 defeat to Monaco's Xiaoxin Yang in the women's singles stage-I semi-final match in Doha on Monday.
Following is India's schedule at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Friday, September 29.
Her personal coach Sanmay Paranjape was controversially cleared to travel with her to the Tokyo, but not allowed to stay at the Games Village with the national team.
World C'ships: Sajan Prakash finishes 25th, fails to progress to final
Both the teams registered identical 3-0 victories in their respective matches.
After a long time, Sharath and Sathiyan find themselves out of the top-100 in the singles rankings and would be looking to make amends in the individual events at the Asian Championships.
India's Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran tasted instant success on their return as a mixed doubles pairing by winning the title at the WTT Contender in Budapest on Friday.
Batra will now take on Singapore's Jian Zeng in the last eight-clash later tonight.
The postponement of Tokyo Olympics to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic has given India's table tennis squad more time to prepare and given the current scenario, the sport's governing body TTFI is looking to fill the head coach's position locally rather than hiring a foreign coach. The head coach position has been lying vacant since the 2018 Asian Games due to multiple factors.
Following is India's schedule at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, July 24.
Veteran Acantha Sharat Kamal raised his game just in time to help the Indian men's team escape unscathed against Kazakhstan at the Asian Games.
Terming the incident unfortunate, the national carrier Air India has tendered an apology to the Indian table tennis team, who were denied boarding on the Delhi-Melbourne flight on Sunday.
Star Indian paddler Manika Batra crashed out of the women's singles in the World Table Tennis Championships Finals after a first round defeat, while Sathiyan Gnanasekaran advanced to the second round in the men's singles, in Houston, on Wednesday.
The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) on Tuesday termed Manika Batra's decision to not take the help of national coach Soumyadeep Roy during her matches at the Tokyo Olympics as a brazen 'act of indiscipline'.
The Indians had to make the 5-1 lead count in the first game to have any chance in the match but Lin and Cheng won eight points in a row to gain control.
Manika Batra's sensational run at the Commonwealth Games fetched her another medal on Sunday. Teaming up with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran she bagged the mixed doubles bronze, thereby winning a medal in every event she competed in at the Gold Coast Games .
The top seeded Indian, ranked 39 in the world, beat Yevhen Pryshchepa of Ukraine 11-0, 11-6, 11-6, 14-12 in the final.
After the highs of the 2018 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, Manika Batra's career took a nosedive following the debacle at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran progressed to the singles third round at the World Table Tennis Championships with a 4-0 win over Russia's Vladimir Sidorenko in Houston.