Indian TT teams need a win to secure Tokyo Olympics berths

Gondomar (Portugal), Jan 23

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India’s men and women table tennis players are just one win away from securing their maiden qualification for the Olympics following their contrasting victories against Luxembourg and Sweden, respectively, in the Team qualifiers.

G Sathiyan took some time in adjusting to the pimpled rubber on the bat of Luka Mladenovic, but other than that, it was a straightforward tie for the fifth-seeded Indian men. They will play 11th seeds Slovenia in the Round of 16 clash tomorrow. A quarterfinal finish will guarantee them qualification for the Tokyo Olympics. India has never qualified as a team in the Olympics history, limiting its participation to the individual events. Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai got India off to a winning start, beating Gilles Michely and Eric Glod 11-9 16-14 116 in the opening doubles.

In the singles, Sathiyan lost the first two games against Mladenovic before fighting back to prevail 8-11 9-11 11-3 13-11 11-6. Sharath conceded a game to Glod but eventually won 11-3 11-3 12-14 11-5 to complete a 3-0 victory. Slovenia beat Iran 3-1 in their Round of 32 match.

Women pip Swedes

The Indian women too are one win away from creating history. The 17th seeds pipped 11th seeds Sweden 3-2 after Archana Kamath saved a match point to beat Linda Bergstrom in the fifth and deciding rubber. She won 11-8 8-11 9-11 11-7 13-11. Manika Batra won both her singles matches, beating Bergstrom and Christina Kallberg 3-1 and 3-2, respectively. — PTI