Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra will lead a six-member table tennis team for the Paris Olympics.

The squad was announced by the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).

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The 41-year-old Sharath Kamal will make his fifth and final appearance at the Olympics while Manika Batra will play at her third successive Games.

Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, a member of the gold medal-winning men’s teams at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and 2022, meanwhile, failed to make the main squad but has been picked as a reserve player.

All six players for the team were selected based on world rankings.

Sharath Kamal, country “s top-ranked men’s singles table tennis player at world No. 40, Manav Thakkar, world No. 62 and national champion Harmeet Desai, ranked 63rd, will form the men’s team.

Manika Batra, who climbed to a career-best rank of world No. 24 following a historic run at Saudi Smash last week, Sreeja Akula, ranked 41st and Archana Kamath, world No. 103, will compete in the women’s team event.

Ayhika Mukherjee is the reserve player for the women’s team. Both Sathiyan and Ayhika will travel to Paris but won’t stay at the Games Village.

They will be called upon in case of any injuries.

Paris will mark the first time that India will have representation in the team table tennis events at the Olympics.

Both the men’s and women’s team events were introduced in the Olympic programme from Beijing 2008.

The Indian men’s and women’s table tennis teams obtained quotas for the Paris 2024 based on their respective rankings in March.

With the team quotas, country’s obtained two quotas each in the men’s and women’s singles events.

In the singles, Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai will compete in the men’s category while Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula will feature in the women’s event.

Former TT player Massimo Costantini of Italy was also present as a special invitee for the selections. Costantini will take charge as the coach of the Indian table tennis team next month.

The squad
Men’s team: Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai, and Manav Thakkar; Reserve player: G. Sathiyan
Men’s singles: Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai
Women’s team: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, and Archana Kamath; Reserve player: Ayhika Mukherjee
Women’s singles: Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula.