Table Tennis at 36th National Games 2022: Key takeaways

India's No. 1 Women's singles player Manika Batra continued her disappointing form at the mega event.

The 36th edition of the National Games is off to a great start with Table Tennis getting over after five days of great competition. National Games officially start on 27th September with Table Tennis getting the exemption as World Championships are going to be held from 30th September to 9th October.

The most successful states were the host Gujarat and West Bengal winning six and eight medals respectively. Gujarat won three good and three bronze medals and West Bengal won four gold medals. Tamil Nadu which had performed well in the last edition couldn't replicate the same in this edition. Sathiyan and the women's team won the bronze medal.

The injury to Achanta Sharath Kamal was even worse in the quarter-finals against Soumyajit Ghost. Kamal was leading 2-1 when he took a medical timeout for a back spasm and quit. Since Tamil Nadu men's team did not finish in the top eight at the National Championships, they couldn't enter the team event.

Key performers

Suthirtha Mukherjee

She was the standout among all the women paddlers at the National Games. She beat the No. 1 seed, Manika Batra, in the semi-finals and then beat the No. 2 seed Sreeja Akula in the finals. Beating the top 2 in a single tournament is indeed a great achievement. She is making a comeback after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Suthirtha first won the women's team gold for West Bengal teaming up with Ayhika Mukherjee and Mouma Das. The trio were unbeatable and comfortably won the gold.

Ayhika Mukherjee

She of late has been showing her skills both in domestic and international tours. Ayhika won the doubles gold pairing up with Suthirtha Mukherjee and the team gold and has been showing good progress, especially in the doubles section.

Ayhika finished finalists in WTT Feeder Otocec in the doubles with Prapti Sen who is also from West Bengal. She couldn't qualify for the Olympics last year and also the Commonwealth Games but is on the right path for the next Olympics.

Suhana Saini

Suhana Saini progressed to the quarter-finals beating Yashaswini Ghorpade of Karnataka in the third round. Going by form Yashaswini recently won the bronze medal in singles and gold in mixed doubles at the Asian Junior Championships beating higher seeds. She couldn't replicate the same form in singles at the National Games against another youngster Saini.

Suhana has been consistently taking part in the WTT junior events and performing well. The quarter-finals will definitely boost her performance and momentum for the rest of the season.

Payas Jain

The youngster from Delhi put up a good show in the men's team event in the semi-finals. Payas was one of the main reasons for Delhi winning the silver medal at the National Games. Payas Jain in the semis beat higher ranked Sanil Shetty who was part of the Commonwealth Games in straight sets.

Again when Delhi was tied 2-2 going into the final match Payas came back with the same momentum beating Deepit Patil and progressing to the finals where Delhi lost to eventual champions Gujarat. He couldn't replicate the same performance in the singles event losing to Utpal Shah tamely in four games.

Payas Jain recently won the gold medal in the mixed doubles pairing with Ghorpade at the Asian Youth Championships beating China. Beating China is never an easy task at any level with the kind of infrastructure and talent they possess. Going forward Payas will be the paddler to watch out for.

Players who didn't live up to their reputation

Manika Batra

Since the Commonwealth Birmingham Games Manika has been facing serious issues. She did not win a single medal in the Commonwealth Games and at the National games too didn't fare well. In the quarter-finals, Manika just got through beating Kushi from Karnataka (4-3) in a see-saw battle. With the kind of form Suthirtha was in Manika couldn't match up and lost 2-4 and took the bronze medal.

With the World Championships starting on 30th September she has to be back to her best.

Diya Chitale

Diya Chitale has won medals in both team and singles but could have performed better. Like Manika, she won a close battle with the youngster Suhana Saini (4-3) in the QF and lost comfortably against Sreeja Akula in the semis. Diya also lost a match to Kowshika from Tamil Nadu in the semi-finals of the team event who is ranked below her. There is a lot of inconsistency in her matches which needs to be sorted out.

Archana Girish Kamath was a big absence at the National Games and was also left out of the Commonwealth Games squad. She and Manika rank fourth in the doubles category and both need to be back playing together.

With the World Championships round the corner, the Indian paddlers shall put up a strong performance.