Harmeet Desai miffed over Asian Games team in singles, calls out unfair selection
Harmeet Desai, the top table tennis player in India, believes he was "unfairly" disqualified from the singles event for the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Harmeet has been selected for the Asian Games team but will only compete in team and mixed doubles events.
Desai has been chosen ahead of veteran Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan for the singles championship since there are only two entrants permitted. “It is going to be my third Asian Games and as per the selection criteria, which includes both domestic and international performances, I should be playing singles as well and not just team and doubles,” Harmeet told PTI.
Following a successful month in which he advanced to the semifinals of the WTT Contender in Lagos and the pre-quarterfinals of the WTT Contender in Tunis, the 29-year-old from Surat on Tuesday rose to the position of highest-ranked Indian.
Along the way, he also defeated two top-20 competitors. He is now rated 64, ahead of Sathiyan (88) and Sharath (69). However, Desai (71) lagged behind Sharath (54) and Sathiyan (60) in the ITTF rankings when the squad was chosen on June 27. The Table Tennis Federation of India's selection standards give local performance a weighting of 50%, international performance a weighting of 40%, and selector discretion a weighting of 10%.
According to Kamlesh Mehta, secretary general of the TTFI, the decision of the selection committee was made unanimously, and players were chosen for the singles tournament based on the current worldwide rankings. “It was a unanimous call taken by the selectors who factored in the world rankings at the time of selection,” said Mehta, himself a former India player and Arjuna awardee.