While Indian table tennis took giant strides in the year, a star too was born with Manika Batra pocketing as many as four medals including two historic gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
In recent years, India's batters have struggled against spin.
Check out the Indian athletes' schedule at the Games on Tuesday, July 27.
Ace paddler Sharath Kamal, who clinched a historic mixed doubles bronze with Manika Batra at the Asian Games last year, feels the road to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics seems difficult in the newly-introduced category, but once the spot is booked, a medal win is possible.
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.
A summary of Tuesday's action in the Ranji Trophy.
Bhavani, who reached Tokyo on Tuesday, wasted no time to start her training.
Men could extend their reign for the second successive time after annexing the title in the previous edition at Surat in 2015. The Indian men had won their first crown in Kuala Lumpur in 2004.
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 .
Both the teams registered identical 3-0 victories in their respective matches.
All you need to do know about Baadshah Pehelwaan.
World C'ships: Sajan Prakash finishes 25th, fails to progress to final
Ms Usha may soon discover that winning four gold medals at the Asian Games and qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics is a walk in the park compared with the challenges of stabilising governance at the IOA, observes Kanika Datta.
D Vishwa was part of the Tamizhaga Table Tennis Association (TTTA) State men's team who were on their way to take part in the 83rd Senior National and Inter-State table tennis championships to be held in Meghalaya, Shillong.
P Anitha, Madhavan Nambiar, Sudha Hari Narayan Singh, Virender Singh, and KY Venkatesh have also been awarded the prestigious award.
A former world champion, Sindhu is one of the favourites to win the women's singles gold medal in Birmingham, having won the silver and bronze in the last two editions at Gold Coast and Glasgow.
Both Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal are seeded in the 17-32 bracket and will get a first-round bye.
Manika Batra and Mouma Das fought hard before going down against defending champions Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu to settle for a silver medal in the women's doubles, a first ever for India in the Commonwealth Games.
India's leading table tennis player Sharath Kamal, who was ignored for Padma Shri, feels the existing awards application system makes the athletes beg for the honour.
Indian athletes, including the boxers and shooters, hit the ground running as they started their pre-Olympic training, hoping to live up to massive expectations in the pandemic-hit Games in Tokyo.
Manika said she has been working on introducing variations in her style of play.
The Indian men's team did almost the unthinkable by beating fancied Japan 3-1 in the quarter-finals to assure the country its first-ever medal in table tennis in the history of the Asian Games, in Jakarta, on Monday.
A summary of Ranji matches played on Tuesday.
Pakistan dished out a strong top-order display to put up 267 for seven on the board after opting to bat.
Shahrukh Khan however changed the complexion of the game as he smashed 33 runs off just 15 balls, taking Tamil Nadu to a four-wicket win.
Indian table tennis players Soumyajit Ghosh and Manika Batra booked their Olympic tickets by winning their respective groups in the Asian Qualifiers in Hong Kong.
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.
The domination of home paddlers could be gauged from the fact that all finals on Monday featured only the Indians.
Manika Batra wants to break the top-30 barrier in the near future
Manika Batra and Mouma Das made history by becoming the first Indian pair to reach the quarter-finals of the World Table Tennis Championships in Dusseldorf, on Thursday.
Following is India's schedule at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, July 24.
Deepika and Atanu form the mixed team and they kickstarted their training
A summary of Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday.
Paddlers Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai's surge in the men's doubles event of the Japan Open came to an end after the pair lost their quarter-final match to local pair of Jin Ueda and Maharu Yoshimura, in Yokohama.
Shaw continued from his unbeaten 240 from overnight and brought up his triple ton.
Tennis star Sania Mirza arrived at the Games Village of the Rio Olympics and so did the table tennis squad while the Indian hockey team won its practice match against Spain.
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'.
Here's a look at Indian athletes' performance on Monday, Day 4 of the Games.
India's top-five finish not a given this time
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
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