Manika Batra, Sharath Kamal to lead India's table tennis team at Asian Games

Veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra will spearhead India's 10-member table tennis squad at the Asian Games in Hangzhou along with Asian Championships in Pyeongchang, Korea.

The squad will look to match the historic bronze medals won in the 2018 Asian Games, where the men's team and mixed doubles pair of Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra ended India's 60-year wait for a table tennis medal at the Asian Games.

The senior selection committee of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) named a 10-member squad, comprising five men and five women along with two reserves, for the upcoming 26th Asian Championships in Pyeongchang, Korea as well as the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The Asian Championships in Korea are scheduled between September 3 and 10, while the Asian Games are between September 23 and October 2.

Sharath Kamal will lead the men's team of G Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, and Manush Shah, while Manika will be leading a young team of Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee, and Diya Chitale.

With restrictions on two singles entries per gender at the Asian Games, the selectors have given their nod to Sharath, Sathiyan, Manika, and Sreeja for the men's and women's singles, respectively.

Sharath will play only in the men's doubles in Hangzhou and Manika in the mixed doubles, both combining with Sathiyan. The left-right combination of Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar will be the second men's doubles squad.

"Sharath and Manika have opted out of other doubles events giving a free hand to the selectors on the premise that they would not want to disturb the pairs already performing well," said the TTFI in a statement.

Following their fantastic win at WTT Contender Tunis, Sutirtha and Ayhika will partner in Women's doubles, with Sreeja and Diya being the second duo.

Harmeet Desai and Sreeja Akula will team up to complete the mixed doubles line after Manika and Sathiyan.

Indian Table Tennis Squad for Asian Games

Men: Achanta Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, and Manush Shah.

Reserve: SFR Snehit, Sanil Shetty.

Women: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Ayhika Mukherjee, and Diya Chitale.

Reserve: Archana Kamath, Reeth Rishya.

Men's Doubles: A. Sharath Kamal/G. Sathiyan and Manav Thakkar/Manush Shah.

Women's Doubles: Sutirtha Mukherjee/Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula/Diya Chitale.

Mixed Doubles: Manika Batra/G. Sathiyan and Sreeja Akula/Harmeet Desai.