Despite losing their pre-quarterfinal matches at the ITTF Table Tennis World Championships in Busan on Wednesday, both the Indian men's and women's teams qualified for the Olympics for the first time ever by finishing last in the world rankings
It is the first time that India has qualified for the team event at an Olympics since the competition was held at the 2008 Beijing Games.
While the official team rankings will be published on March 4th, calculations show that both teams have made it to Paris.
“The men's and women's teams played very well and we are proud of them. “We are waiting for the official announcement that we have qualified for the Paris Olympics, which will be held on March 5,” said Kamlesh Mehta, general secretary of the Table Tennis Association of India.
The men's team, led by ten-time national champion Sharath Kamal, was beaten 3-0 by hosts Korea. The women fought bravely but lost 3-1 to higher-ranked Chinese Taipei, which featured players such as world number 10 Cheng I-Ching and world number 41 Szu-Yu Chen.
“The whole team is very excited. We have been looking forward to this day for a very long time. We are very happy that we were awarded the Olympic Games, even if we still have to wait for the quota to be officially confirmed. It really is a fantastic team effort from everyone, the coaches, the support staff, the association and the SAI. I think it's really historic for something like this to happen, to qualify as a team in both the men's and women's games,” said Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, India's top men's player.
With only 16 teams qualifying for the event, the event is highly competitive considering two wins at the Olympics guarantee a medal.
It is also a highly sought-after event as it comes with two guaranteed individual entries into the Olympics.
While Manika Batra and Sreeja qualified according to the rankings for the women, the men would benefit enormously from this. Even though the Indian Table Tennis Association takes the final decision, it will be an interesting battle between world number 67 Harmeet Desai, veteran Sharath, Sathiyan and Manav Thakkar for the two spots. Sathiyan should also qualify for the mixed doubles along with Manika Batra.
The 41-year-old Sharath, who has represented India at four Olympics, recently told The Indian Express that his dream is to take part in a team event at the Olympics.
“I’ve seen this team grow. Competing in a team event at the Olympics would be a dream come true. The camaraderie we share and the way we have helped each other over so many years is simply incredible. “To play an event with real medal chances would be incredible,” he had said.
In the opening round of the tournament, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula stunned the table tennis world by defeating Chinese world No. 1 Sun Yingsha and world No. 2 Wang Yidi respectively.
An Indian had never beaten a top Chinese player before and these double wins suddenly showed that India is capable of pulling off an upset against the best, even if its consistency still needs to improve by leaps and bounds.
Indian TT on the rise
Since Sharath won a medal at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Indian table tennis has been on the rise. Its growth multiplied over the last decade, especially after Manika shot into the limelight by winning four medals at the Gold Coast CWG 2018. She then teamed up with Sharath to win bronze in the mixed doubles event at the Asian Games – a first for India. Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee then did the unthinkable at the Hangzhou Asiad and won bronze in the women's doubles, defeating a top Chinese pair in their own backyard.
Sathiyan, who had previously said he let his singles ranking slip to focus on mixed doubles, needs to refocus on improving his singles ranking.
“To be honest, it will be very difficult to win an individual medal. I took part once, maybe I can make it two more rounds, but I'm still two or three rounds away from a chance of winning a medal. So I should focus on something where I have a chance of winning,” he had said.
The entire Indian squad in Busan would be celebrating getting into the Olympics, but they also know that team spirit must take a back seat until the end of the qualification window.
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