Sharath Kamal to spearhead India's challenge at World Table Tennis Championship 2017

05/27/2017

Sharat Kamal will lead the Indian contingent at the World Table Tennis Championships 2017 to be held in Dusseldorf, Germany from 29 May to 5 June. Kamal and his compatriots are leaving no stone unturned in their preparations after having reached the venue on May 11th itself.

Given that the world championships are all about individual performances, each member of the Indian contingent will be looking to give a good account of themselves. However, despite this scenario, the vast majority of Indian hopes will be pinned on Kamal’s performance.

Moreover, not only has Kamal led the Indian challenge in previous world championships, he was in particularly good touch at the previous edition held two years ago in Suzhou (China) before he being forced to pull out in the third round due to a hip injury. More importantly, the world no. 53 has been in good form recently during the Asian Championships in China where India gave China tough competition in the quarterfinals before falling short.

The other male members of the Indian squad include Soumyajit Ghosh (83), G. Sathiyan (125), and Harmeet Desai (95). Meanwhile, India’s women contingent consists of Madhurika Patkar, the reigning national champion, Manika Batra (103), Mouma Das and Ayhika Mukherjee, who will be making her world championships debut.

India will allso take part in doubles in both sections with Kamal and Sathiyan being the first men’s pair while Ghosh and Desai are the second pair. In the women’s section, Ayhika will partner Madurika, while Manika and Mouma will form India's second pair. Finally, in the mixed doubles category, Manika Batra and Madhurika Patkar will pair up with G. Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai respectively.

The squad is currently undergoing an intensive camp at the venue as preparation for the event under the watchful eyes of foreign coach Massimo Costantini and former national champion Soumyadeep Roy, who was drafted in by Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) as the second coach.

Speaking of India’s chances at the most prestigious event on the ITTF calendar Massimo said, "We have had good training sessions since we arrived here on May 11. The players are put to strenuous sessions with different set of players-defensive and offensive-thanks to the sparring partners that have been made available to us here," as reported by Firstpost.

"Well, I will be happy if our players put their best foot forward and try hard. The worlds are the toughest competition and a couple of good rounds mean you are closer to the round of 32. We will see how it goes from there."

Sharath Kamal to spearhead India's challenge at World Table Tennis Championship 2017

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