It was one of the most sought-after tournaments on the table tennis calendar till about two decades ago. But with the ever-increasing opportunities on the global circuit, the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship has lost its sheen in the last few years. While India makes an effort to revive the tournament — staging it for the third time in succession with the tournament finding no host for its last edition in 2017 — the hosts will enter as firm favourite to sweep a majority of titles.
Five pull-outs
The 21st edition — seventh in India — will see 12 teams, despite five pull-outs for a variety of reasons, vying for glory at the Jawaharla Nehru indoor stadium on the banks of the Mahanadi. In the last four years — when India tallied three gold, four silver and seven bronze medals in Surat — the Indian table tennis has reached greater heights. Add to that the fact that some of the other contenders, including England and Nigeria, have rested top players and have instead fielded second-string teams to plan for the future it makes India’s job easier to better the medal haul.
While England, the top seeds in men’s, has travelled without its top two players, World No. 15 Liam Pitchford and veteran Paul Drinkhall, Nigeria has travelled without star paddlers Aruna Quadri (World No. 21) and Segun Toriola. India men, on the other hand, have stuck to G. Sathiyan (World No. 24) and A. Sharath Kamal (World No. 32) to lead the charge.
That would mean the Indian men will be the team to beat in the team championship, which will start with the preliminary group, despite being seeded second based on world rankings.
Even in the women’s section, with Singapore not fielding its top four players and Australia travelling without their highest-ranked paddler, Manika Batra-led India will be in contention for the yellow metal.
It will be interesting to see if Manika (World No. 56) can lead Indian women’s charge to a second glory at the Commonwealth stage in as many years, after the surprise triumph last year.
