Indian coach upbeat after paddlers splendid show at Asian WTTC Continental Stage

 




Indian coach upbeat after paddlers splendid show at Asian WTTC Continental Stage

By Armstrong Vaz

Doha, Qatar (January 13) IANS: Indian paddlers performance at the Asian WTTC Continental Stage in Qatar - in which they secure ten quota places for the ITTF World Championship in Durban South Africa has come in for praise from coach Sourav Chakraborty.

The Indian players came up with a splendid show in Doha with two players in men’s singles, 4 in women’s singles, 2 pairs in men’s doubles, one each in women’s doubles and mixed doubles qualifying for this year’s World Championship.

“They have done extremely well, starting from Manika (Batra), all of them have done well so it's has been an interesting championship and almost all of them they have qualified and we hope that in WTTC championships also they will do well,” said, Sourav a former player turned coach.

 

The coach was happy with the performance of the women’s team with four players getting the quota, the maximum a country could get from the event.

 

In the women’s singles Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Swastika Ghosh and Chitale Diya Parag are 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.

 

“Four girls have qualified in the singles and one pair in the women’s doubles and two pair in men’s doubles and one in mixed doubles, so it is a wonderful performance all together,” he added.

 

Sourav said more Indian players could get the quota in the men’s singles besides Sharath Kamal Achanta, Utalbhai Manush Shah, with the likes of Harmeet Desai along with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran hopeful of making the grade based on the rankings, the final list which will be out in the third week of February.

 

“In the mixed doubles Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra beat the Japanese pair and got the quota while in the men’s doubles our pair of Sharath Kamal Achanta and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran nearly defeated Chinese pair of Olympian Champion Ma long and Yuan Licen. Our players were leading 3-1 but the Chinese came back and won, so it was a very close match we were close to the Olympic champions

All together it was a fantastic tournament it is a part and parcel of winning and it was a fantastic

effort by the men's doubles pair,” he added.

 

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.

The Indian players will continue to stay in Qatar for the next few weeks to take part in the WTT Contender Doha, which starts on Sunday followed by the WTT Feeder Doha, Qatar (Jan 22 to 26)

And the WTT Youth Contender Doha, from January 27 to 30.

 

Quota Winners From Asian WTTC Continental Stage For The ITTF World Championship In Durban South Africa

 

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

 

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