New Delhi, September 25, 2015: A 10-member Indian squad,
comprising five men and five women and led by Achanta Sharath Kamal, left for
Thailand, to participate in the Asian Table Tennis Championships, to be held at
Pattaya from September 26 to October 3.
The other men’s team members, besides Sharath, are national
champion Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty and G. Sathiyan while
Mouma Das, Ankita Das, Pooja Sahasrabudhe, K. Shamini and Manika Batra form the
women’s team.
The team, accompanied by coaches Bhawani Mukherjee and Arup
Basak, left today afternoon.
Prior to their departure, all team members were at a 21-day
camp at Patiala , preparing for the most
important continental championships as, for the first time, the International
Table Tennis Federation has accorded to it a proper qualification-event status
for the World Championships, to be held in Malaysia in February 2016.
On the eve of their departure, Sharath said it was very
important for us to make most of the event. “This will be my first competitive
event since I got injured during the World Championships in China early
this year. I had been working out physically without indulging in hardcore
practice. At the camp, I felt the flow was nice and coming good. I hope I
return to my original form,” said the highest world raked Indian at No. 52.
Sharath had held the career-best world ranking at No. 27 when he pulled out of
the pre-quarterfinals at the Shuzu world meet due to side strain in April this
year.
The coaches and the team members, too, felt happy to see the
return of the most experienced player to the squad. “His presence will add an
aura to the side and hopefully the Indians will perform well,” said the
coaches.
The Indians had entered the quarterfinals of the teams
events at Macau in the previous edition.
TTFI Press release
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