The Indian men’s and women’s teams were eliminated in the pre-quarterfinals of the World Table Tennis Championships on Wednesday, but their performance in a likelihood will be enough to send them to the Paris Olympics. The women’s team, led by Manika Batra, lost 1-3 to Chinese Taipei in the round of 16, while the men were blown away by South Korea for the second time in the competition, suffering a humiliating 0-3 defeat. In all likelihood, the men and women have qualified for the Olympics but we will have to wait till March for the official announcement, said a TTFI official.
The World Championships event offered Olympic quotas to the quarterfinalists, but the men and women from India are likely to cut through with their world rankings. The final announcement will be made on March 5, when the World Championships points have been calculated. Indian women’s team is currently ranked 17th, while the Indian men rank 15th.
Manika pushed India ahead in the women’s pre-quarterfinals with a thrilling 11-8, 8-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-9 victory over Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu. But, in the second singles match, world number 10 Cheng I-Ching blanked Sreeja Akula 11-6, 11-9, 11-5, before Ayhika Mukherjee was unable to match Li Yu-Jhun’s strength, losing 10-12, 13-15, 11-9, 2-11. In her second singles match, Manika, ranked 36th, gave it her all against Cheng, whom she defeated last year, but the 32-year-old Taiwanese player was well prepared to face the Indian, who employs the long pimpled rubber on the backhand and Manika lost 10-12, 11-5, 9-11, 5-11.
The Indian men’s squad struggled to compete against the mighty Koreans. Harmeet Desai and Sharath Kamal managed to take a game off Jang Woojin and Lim Jonghoon respectively before Lee Sang Su defeated G Sathiyan. Earlier on Wednesday, Harmeet Desai won the pivotal fifth rubber against Kazakhstan, propelling the Indian men’s team to the pre-quarterfinals, while the women’s team cruised into the last-16 round with a 3-0 win against Italy.
Harmeet lost the first match to Kirill Gerassimenko 9-11, 12-10, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, before senior colleague and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Sharath Kamal brought India on level terms with a comeback victory over Alan Kurmangaliyev. The age-defying 41-year-old Sharath dug deep into his reserves after being two games down to turn the tide against his Kazakh opponent. Sharath finally won 6-11, 7-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-9. Sharath though lost his second singles match to Gerassimenko 4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 7-11 as Kazakhstan levelled the scores. However, Harmeet showed no signs of nerves in the decider and won 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7.
