Paris Olympics: History for India as Table Tennis teams qualify for first time

For the first time, the Indian men’s and women’s table tennis teams have qualified for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, scheduled later this year. Despite losing their pre-quarterfinal clashes at the ITTF World Table Tennis Teams Championships in Busan on Wednesday, both teams qualified by taking the last world ranking spot.

At Busan, hosts Korea beat ten-time national champion Sharath Kamal-led men’s team 3-0. The women’s team, however, put up a stern competition but lost 1-3 to the higher-ranked Chinese Taipei, including world number 10 Cheng I-Ching and World Number 41 Szu-Yu Chen.

India qualified for the Table Tennis Team Event for the first time since its introduction at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. The official list of team rankings will come out on March 5, said Kamlesh Mehta, general secretary of Table Tennis Federation of India.

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“The men’s and the women’s teams played very well, and we’re proud of them. We’re waiting for the official announcement that we have qualified for the Paris Olympics, which will come on the 5th of March,” Kamlesh Mehta said as quoted by the Indian Express.

'Happy with the achievement'

Speaking on the same, top Indian Table Tennis player Gnanasekaran Sathiyan said though the official announcement around quota allotment is yet to be announced, everyone in the camp is happy with the achievement. He added India waited for this moment for a long time and thanked the coaches, support staff and SAI for a breakthrough.

“The entire team is very excited. We were looking forward to this day for a very long time. We’re extremely happy that we’ve made the cut for the Olympics though we have to wait for the quota to be confirmed officially," saidSathiyan

“It’s truly a fantastic team effort by everyone, the coaches, support staff, federation and SAI. I think it’s truly historic for something like this to happen, to qualify as a team in both men’s and women’s,” he added.

Considering that only two wins in this event guarantee a medal spot at the Summer Games, this 16-team event comes across as a sought-after event. Besides, it also guarantees two singles entries for the Paris Olympics.

Per the latest standings, Manika Batra and Sreeja should go through in the women’s category and there would be a tossup between World No.67 Harmeet Desai, veteran Sharath, Sathiyan and Manav Thakkar for the two spots.

Besides, Sathiyan should also qualify for the mixed doubles event, partnering with Batra.