India’s table tennis squad for CWG announced

BENGALURU: The selectors of the Indian table tennis team on Tuesday named a four-member women’s squad for the Commonwealth Games, subject to clearance from the Sports Authority of India, after Archana Kamath was included in the side despite not meeting the existing criteria.

Kamath is the second highest-ranked Indian player at 66 after Manika Batra (39), but she was not among the top four players going by the existing selection criteria which also factors in domestic performance.

The chosen players are Manika, Archana, Sreeja Akula (rank 66), Reeth Rishya (100), with Diya Chitale (129) as the standby.

Experienced players like Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee were ignored. The men’s team which has been picked is a more straightforward one, consisting of the great Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai. Manush Shah will be the standby.

All the 15 players (eight men and seven women) at the camp will be fielded at the ensuing World Table Tennis Tour events in Zagreb (Croatia), Ototec (Slovakia) and Budapest (Hungary) in June-July as part of an ongoing process to bolster the strength of Indian table tennis.

The CWG-bound paddlers will also be provided with an acclimatization camp in partnership with a leading European team.

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