Indian men's team smash Chile in World Team Table Tennis Championships 2024 opener

Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan won their respevtive matches.

The Indian men’s team made a confident start to their campaign at the World Team Table Tennis Championships 2024 in Busan, South Korea, by defeating Chile 3-0 in their opening match on Friday.

The experienced trio of Achanta Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai, and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won their respective singles matches without dropping a game, giving India a comprehensive victory over the South American opponents.

Sharath Kamal, the former Commonwealth Games champion, set the tone for India by beating Nicolas Burgos 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 in the first match. He was followed by Desai, who overcame Gustavo Gomez 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 in the second match. Sathiyan sealed the tie for India by defeating Felipe Olivares 12-10, 11-8, 11-8 in the third and final match.

India are placed in Group 3 along with hosts and world No. 3 South Korea, Poland, Chile, and New Zealand. They will face Poland in their next match on Sunday, followed by South Korea on Monday and New Zealand on Tuesday.

The top team from each of the eight groups will qualify directly for the round of 16, while the second and third-placed teams will play an additional round for the remaining eight spots. The fourth and fifth-placed teams will be eliminated from the competition.

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The quarter-finalists in both the men’s and women’s categories will also secure their team quotas for the 2024 Paris Olympics. India are yet to book their tickets for the mega event, where they will hope to improve on their best-ever performance of reaching the quarter-finals in Tokyo 2020.

The Indian women’s team, however, had a disappointing start to their campaign, losing 2-3 to defending champions China in their opening match on Thursday. Sreeja Akula and Ayhika Mukherjee won matches for India by winning their singles matches, but China’s tenacity ultimately prevailed. India are in Group 1 with China, Uzbekistan, Spain, and Hungary. They will play their next match against Hungary on Sunday.

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