Table Tennis
Indian Table Tennis Squad at Olympic Games Paris 2024: Schedule, History
Can the Indians break the egg in table tennis, a sport they're yet to make a long-lasting mark at the Olympics?
Manika Batra (Photo Credit: World Table Tennis)
In a historic moment, both Indian men's and women's table tennis teams will feature at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
India has named a strong squad for the quadrennial event with veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal leading the men's team and Manika Batra leading the women's team.
Indian table tennis contingent
Men's individuals: Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai
Men's team: Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar
Women's individuals: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula
Women's team: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Archana Kamath
Tough draw for Indian men
Since the draws have come out, it is possible to make a much better prediction of how things can pan out, although in sports the chance of unlikely surprises is always possible.
Keeping all of that in mind, in the individual men's category, Harmeet will play the preliminary round against Zaid Aboyaman of Jordan.
If he gets past him, he will face R64 French star and world no.5 Felix Lebrun in the next round.
Sharath Kamal opens his match against Slovenian Deni Kozul in his opening round.
In his side of the bracket are quite difficult opponents such as world no.15 Shunsuke Togami of Japan, world no.13 Jang Woojin of South Korea, and world no.6 Hugo Calderano.
The Indian men's team is also faced with a very difficult draw, with India facing China in the round of 16.
A medal chance looks bleak for Indian men, but it is sports, and unpredictability and upsets are always a part of it, so never say never!
Fortune favors Indian women
It seems the Indian men have taken all the misfortunes of the draw onto themselves and have left the women's team with quite possibly the best route to a semi-final spot.
They will face Romania in the round of 16, and their possible quarter-final opponents will be the USA or Germany.
The Indian women would be thanking their stars as they could not have asked for a better draw for a route to the semi-finals.
As far as the women's draws are concerned, world no.28 Manika Batra will face Anna Hursey of the UK in her opening round.
On her side of the draw await higher-ranked players such as Prithika Pavade of France (#18), Japanese paddler Miu Hirano (#13), and Shin Yubin of South Korea (#8).
Although the draw is difficult, Manika would fancy her chances against them.
For the highest-ranked Indian Sreeja Akula, Christina Kallberg of Sweden will be her first test in Paris.
Being amongst the top-seeded players in the draw, Sreeja would not face any high-ranked opponent at least until the round of 16, where she could face Chinese Sun Yingsha, the no.1 ranked paddler in the world.
Schedule
July 27: Men and women singles preliminary round and round of 64.
July 28: Men and women singles round of 64.
July 29: Men and women singles round of 64 and round of 32.
July 30: Men and women singles round of 32.
July 31: Men and women singles round of 32 and round of 16.
August 1: Men's and women's singles quarterfinals.
August 2: Men's and women's singles semifinals.
August 3: Women's singles bronze medal and finals.
August 4: Men's singles bronze medal and finals.
August 5: Men and women's team round of 16.
August 6: Men and women's team round of 16 and quarterfinals.
August 7: Men and women's team quarterfinals and men's team semifinal 1
August 8: Men's team semi-final 2 and women's team semi-finals 1 and 2.
August 9: Men's team bronze medal match and gold medal match.
August 10: Women's team bronze medal match and gold medal match.
Medal chances for the Indian Table Tennis team at the Olympics 2024
India's best chance of a podium finish in table tennis, as per the draws, lies with the women's team but that is easier said than done.
Historically, India has but a handful of victories in table tennis at the Olympics.
Tokyo Olympics saw Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra qualify for the third round in men's and women's categories, the furthest India has managed to go in this sport at the Olympics.
They also reached the round of 16 in the mixed doubles category, becoming the first Indian paddlers to take part in the fourth round of the tournament.
Although the road ahead is long and difficult, it is not impossible.
All you need to know about the Indian athletes at the Paris Olympics 2024
Paris 2024 Olympics: Click here for the complete schedule for all Indian athletes.
Paris 2024 Olympics: Click here to view the Indians who have qualified for the Olympics.
