Top five Indian players at World Team Table Tennis Championships

The team will be hoping for strong performances from these athletes at the event.

India is set to take part in the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championship to be held in Chengdu, China from 30th September to 9th October. Both the Indian men's and women's teams are taking part with the former put in group two and the latter in group five along with heavy-weights Germany.

China, Japan, and Germany have always dominated the World Championships and this time too it will be the battle between the three nations but we might get to see some upsets.

Here is the list of the top five Indians to watch out for at the World Team Table Tennis Championships:

5. Manav Thakkar

The former U-21 World No. 1 will start the World Championships coming fresh from the National Games. He was an important part of the Gujarat team who beat West Bengal Bengal to reach the finals. At the World Championships, he will most probably take part in the doubles along with Utpal Shah. In the WTT tour, Manav and Harmeet Desai play doubles together but Harmeet might partner with Sathiyan to strengthen the doubles section.

Manav if needed will also be the third singles player ahead of Utpal Shah. Shah is a left-hander and the Indian team might consider Utpal who adds a variety.

4. Manika Batra

The 26-year-old Dhyan Chand awardee has not been in good form for the past few months. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, she returned home empty-handed which was a shock to the Indian sporting fraternity. In the 2018 edition, she won four medals from where her career graph started to rise significantly.

At the recently concluded National games, she fought a close encounter with Kushi from Karnataka to reach the semi-finals. Manika did not look comfortable in her gameplay and lost points constantly. The preparation for the World Championships has not been ideal but with experience in her hand, she can turn the fortunes and help the Indian women's team reach the knockout round.

3. Harmeet Desai

The paddler from Gujarat after a successful Commonwealth Games outing won back-to-back medals at the National Games winning both the singles and the team event. In singles, Harmeet defeated the favourite Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in the semi-finals in front of his home crowd. The finals were no match for him beating Soumyajit Ghosh comprehensively.

In the absence of Achanta Sharath Kamal, Harmeet will have to take up the responsibility of playing both the singles and doubles. He along with Sathiyan is the senior most members from the men's side and will look to sail to the knockouts comfortably.

2. Sreeja Akula

Sreeja Akula is the second best-ranked paddler in the women's category from India and will play a vital role in the women's section. This year (2022) has been one of her best seasons to date getting to the last eight of many WTT tours and gaining valuable experience.

At the Commonwealth Games 2022, she played three matches in a day without much gap but was able to perform to her best in all the games she participated in. She almost lost in the bronze medal match in the singles event but went on to consolidate it by winning the gold medal in the mixed doubles along with Achanta Sharath Kamal.

One of the positives of Indian Table Tennis at the Commonwealth Games was Sreeja Akula who fought till the end in all her matches.

1. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

Sathiyan the current World No. 37 will be leading the Indian men's team in the absence of veteran Sharath Kamal. This is the first time in a major competition that Sathiyan is taking up the leadership role which might bring the best out of him.

Before the 2022 Commonwealth Games Sathiyan had beaten World No. 6 Darco Jorgic on the WTT tour which is one of the best wins of his entire career. In the past, he has beaten top 20 ranked players like Simon Gauzy but beating a top 10 ranked player is quite special.

At the CWG Games, he won the bronze medal losing to Pitchford in the semifinals and at the national games lost to Harmeet Desai to win the bronze medal. If Sathiyan is able to show consistency then India can definitely progress through the group stages. Sathiyan has also played in Japanese and Polish clubs in the past two years. The Japanese league is considered to be one of the best in the world. All these experiences should pay off at the World Championships.

One major missing would be Sharath Kamal who opted out to take rest after a hectic schedule and from the women's side Suthirtha Mukherjee. Suthirtha has been in excellent form beating both Manika Batra and Sreeja to clinch the National games. She also won the team event along with winning the women's doubles with Ayhika Mukherjee.