Sharath, Manika to lead Indian challenge at World Tete event in Durban
Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medalist Sharath Kamal and top-ranked Indian woman player Manika Batra will lead an 11-member Indian team at the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships in Durban from May 20 to 28. The team consists of five male and six female players. Only team championship matches will be played in the 59th edition of the World Championship. The championship will be hosted by an African country for the first time since Egypt in 1939. The selection committee of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has selected the team keeping in view the performance, experience and individual utility of the players in important tournaments based on the latest selection policy.
Top Indian in the men’s team, G. Apart from Sathiyan (world ranking 50) and the experienced Sharath (world ranking 55), Manush Shah, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar are in the fray. Manika Batra (world ranking 40), Sreeja Akula, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Reeth Rishya, Archana Kamath and Diya Chitale have got a chance in the women’s team. Sathiyan, Sharath, Manush and Harmeet will compete in men’s singles and doubles. Sathiyan will pair up with Sharath while Manush and Harmeet will form the other men’s pair for the country. Manika, Sreeja, Sutirtha and Reeth will compete in singles.
Manika, however, will pair up with Archana in doubles, while Sreeja will pair up with Diya. Sathiyan and Manika will be India’s first pair in mixed doubles while Manav and Archana will form the second pair. Subhajit Saha and Mamta Prabhu will remain with the teams as men’s and women’s coaches respectively.
