ITTF World C'ships: Manika, Sreeja, Manav to lead the Indian challenge - Preview

The 11-member Indian table tennis contingent is set for the biggest competition of the year — the ITTF World Championships — to be held at the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha, Qatar, from 17th to 25th May.

The Indian team, featuring star players like Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, and Manav Thakkar, will have four players each in the singles categories and two pairs in each of the three doubles categories.

Indian paddlers have had a rather disappointing year so far in singles, with top players like Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula suffering early exits and experiencing significant drops in their rankings.

They will be aiming to end this poor run, regain their rhythm, and target a quarterfinal finish. Manav Thakkar will be the one to watch in the men’s singles category.

Meanwhile, Indian doubles pairs — such as Manav and Manush in men's doubles, and Ayhika and Sutirtha in women's doubles — have shown promising performances over the past two years. They will now look to convert that progress into medals.

India has never won a medal at the World Championships since its independence and will be hoping to change that in Doha by ending this long wait for a historic medal.

Format

This will be a single-legged knockout competition. The men's and women's singles events will begin with the Round of 128, while all three doubles categories will begin with the Round of 64.

Squad

Men's Singles - Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah, Ankur Bhattacharjee, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

Women's Singles - Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Diya Chitale, Yashaswini Ghodpade

Men's Doubles - Manav/ Manush, Harmet Desai/ Sathiyan

Women's Doubles - Ayhika Mukherjee/ Sutirtha Mukherjee, Diya-Yashaswini

Mixed Doubles - Manush-Diya, Yashaswini-Harmeet

Schedule (Timings in IST)

12:30 PM - 17th May - First round

12:30 PM - 18th May - First round

1:30 PM - 19th May - Second Round

1:30 PM - 20th May - Second Round

1:30 PM - 21st May - Third Round

1:30 PM - 22nd May - Fourth and Fifth round

1:30 PM - 23rd May - Fourth and Fifth round

2:30 PM - 24th May - Semi-final

2:30 PM - 25th May - Final

Live Streaming

There is no TV broadcast for the 2025 ITTF World Championships in India. But all the matches will be live-streamed on the World Table Tennis (WTT) official YouTube channel.