Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams faced defeats in their respective pre-quarterfinal matches at the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in Busan, Republic of Korea. The losses dashed India’s hopes of securing team quotas for the Paris 2024 Olympics from the event. Advancing to the quarter-finals would have guaranteed them berths at the Summer Games.
Nevertheless, India still has a chance to obtain Olympic quotas through the world team rankings. Sixteen table tennis teams will compete in both the men’s and women’s events at the Paris Olympics.
The Indian women’s team, are currently placed 17th in the world rankings. However, they have earned enough points in the tournament beating Hungary, Spain, and Uzbekistan at the group stage and Italy in the Round of 32 to rise in the standings. The men’s Indian table tennis team, however, are ranked 15th in the world.
India go down in RO16 of World Table Tennis Team Championships:
In the women’s category, India suffered a 3-1 loss to world No. 4 Chinese Taipei in the round of 16. Despite Manika Batra’s initial win, the team couldn’t maintain momentum, eventually falling short.
Similarly, the men’s Indian table tennis team were defeated 3-0 by world No. 5 South Korea. Harmeet Desai, Sharath Kamal, and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran faced tough losses, bringing an end to India’s campaign.
Earlier, both Indian teams had successful outings, with the women defeating Italy and the men triumphing over Kazakhstan to secure spots in the top 16.