Harmeet looking forward to play in Goa in March after mixed bag in Qatar

 

Harmeet looking forward to play in Goa in March after mixed bag in Qatar

By Armstrong Vaz

Doha, Qatar: Goa has been a ‘lucky’ destination for India’s Harmeet Desai and he is looking forward to this year’s WTT Star Contender Goa to bring out his best game to the table in the February event.

 

Ranked 71 on the ITTF computer Harmeet, who is in Qatar for two back-to-back events starting with the Asian WTTC Continental Stage finished in the 29th place and has not got the quota for the World Table Tennis Championship in South Africa but is hopeful he will make it to the May 2023 Durban event when the ITTF announce the qualification list next month on the basis of the rankings.

 

Harmeet defeated Singapore’s Pang Kuen 4-1 on Friday, the last day of the championship which saw two other Indian men’s singles players Sharath Kamal Achanta, Utalbhai Manush Shah getting the quota, while Harmeet along with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran are hopeful of making the grade based on the rankings to complete the maximum four a country can get for the World Championship.

 

 Harmeet had a mixed bag in Qatar, he started by winning 4-0 against Abdulla Al Balosshi in the round of 62 lost 4-0 to Zhen Dong Fan in the round 32 match forcing him to play in the position matches, in which he lost to Hang Siu Lam of Hong Kong but recovered to beat Izacc Quek of Singapore and winded up by beating Pang.

 

“I am quite happy with my performance (on Friday) and it was a good match because the way I started in the tournament wasn't that good as per my feeling but on Friday it turned out quite well and it will help me to play better in the coming tournaments that is WTT Contender here in Doha and couple of national ranking tournaments in India and also the WTT Feeder also in Doha.”

 

The 29-year-old, Surat-born paddler has a host of local, regional and international events in the next few months and one of them will take place at his ‘lucky’ destination Goa and he along with his teammates are looking forward to playing in the coastal paradise in two months’ time.

 

“I have played a couple of tournaments in Goa before and it's quite a long time, I think around eight years ago I played the last tournament and there was also an International Tournament back then but it has been a very nice place to explore and also to play a tournament,” said Harmeet about the WTT Star Contender Goa which will take place from February 27 to March 5.

 

“I'm looking forward to it and it has been a lucky place for me because I won the Lusofonia Games in Goa so I'm hoping that I can also play well again,” he added.

 

Indian paddlers gave a splendid performance in Qatar and besides the two quota places in the men’s singles, got the maximum 4 quota places in women’s singles, 2 pairs got the quota in men’s doubles, one each in women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

 

In the women’s singles Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Swastika Ghosh and Chitale Diya Parag were among the 28 players who got the quota while in the Women’s Doubles Sreeja Akula and Reeth Tennison made the grade, to join the 11 other pairs.

 

In the men’s doubles Sharath and Sathiyan, Harmeet and Utalbhai have got the quota to join the 11 others who qualified, while in the mixed doubles: Sathiyan and Manika will represent India at the Durban event along with 11 other pairs.

 

Players from China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Qatar, Uzbekistan and Thailand qualified for the World Championship from the Asian continent quota.

 

Women’s singles: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Swastika Ghosh and Chitale Diya Parag

Men’s singles: Sharath Kamal Achanta, Utalbhai Manush Shah

Women’s Doubles: Sreeja Akula and Reeth Tennison

Men’s Doubles: Sharath Kamal Achanta and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Harmeet Desai and Utalbhai Manush Shah

Mixed Doubles: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra