Indian TT teams depart for World Team C'ships

After tasting success at the recently concluded Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (CWG), the Indian table tennis team, in two batches, left on Wednesday for the World Team Championships slated to be held at Halmstad in Sweden between April 29 and May 6.

The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has retained the same team that competed in the CWG. The team, led by captain Achanta Sharath Kamal, will be training at Varberg from Thursday until the competition begins on April 29.

Speaking on the upcoming championship, Sharath said that both teams will try to live up to their rankings.

"Our men team is ranked 10th and women team, 14th. We also know the expectations have soared after our CWG success. But the worlds are a different ball game," he said.

"Yet, we will give our best and I would be happy if we try to reach a top-12 spot," Sharath added.

Meanwhile, Manika Batra was also confident of performing well. "I am in good touch and our team spirit is really good after what we did at Gold Coast. But CWG is past and we have to live in the present," Manika, who won four medals at Gold Coast, said.

"The world championships will give us a kind of experience that will help us all in the future," Manika added.

Coach Massimo Costantini, too, was upbeat but cautioned saying that India will have to think about improving their positions.

"Most importantly, they have to maintain their rankings. The top fields will be on view in Sweden and the players are aware of the job at hand," said the coach.

Teams:

Men: A. Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan, A. Amalraj, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty.

Women: Manika Batra, Mouma Das, Madhurika Patkar, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe and Suthirta Mukherjee.

Coaches: Massimo Costantini and Arup Basak.

Support staff: Kishore Dey (physio) and Amarjit Singh (masseur).

Manager: T.G. Upadhya.

--IANS

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