Indore, Jan 4 (Table Tennis News) The Table Tennis Federation of India on Tuesday decided to postpone events in three categories (Under-15, Under-13 and Under-11) in the ongoing National Ranking (Central Zone) Championships in the wake of a fresh COVID-19 surge in the country.

The committee also decided to postpone the Senior Nationals to be held in Shillong from January 22 to 29. The Cadet and Sub-Junior Nationals that were to begin from January 11 have also been put on hold.

These decisions were taken during the virtual special executive committee meeting chaired by Senior Vice-President Rajeev P. Bodas, Secretary General Arun Kumar Banerjee and organising stakeholders of the four championships.

Taking into consideration the prevailing situation, particularly in the aftermath of several positive cases at the Central Zone events, the Secretary General announced that the three events in the championships and the Cadet & Sub-Junior Nationals that follow from January 11 to 19 stands postponed.

As for the Junior and Youth Nationals (Alleppey), the Secretary General said that there was no change in the original schedule (February 22-March 2) for the time being.

Also Read : Tennis Premier League: Hyderabad Strikers make semis, Chennai Stallions win big.

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Mumbai, Dec 17 (Tennis News) Hyderabad Strikers sealed their place in the semi-finals of the Tennis Premier League (TPL) when they defeated Pune Jaguars 45-35 in their final league match here on Friday.

Tied in joint second place with 130 points after three matches, both teams were looking to win big and it was the Hyderabad outfit with their overall strength that finally prevailed.

Hyderabad tallied 175 points and are sitting pretty at the top, followed by Mumbai Leon Army with 167, with Pune Jaguars and Chennai Stallions tied in third place with 165 each.

With two more matches yet to be played, Gujarat Panthers, on 122 points and Bengaluru, on 118, also have an outside chance of making the grade.

In the first match of the day, Chennai Stallions seemed to have reserved their best for the last.

Lying in fifth position in the points table after three matches, they needed a big win to stay in contention for a semi-final slot and that's what they did, defeating the unbeaten Mumbai Leon Army 44-36.

Samantha Sharan gave Chennai a great start when she handed a 12-8 defeat to Sowjanya Bavisetti.

Samantha raced to a 6-1 lead before two unforced errors helped Sowjanya claw her way to 6-4 at the change of sides. Samantha, however, kept attacking the flanks and maintained her lead to win the tie 12-8.

Siddharth Rawat then got into the act, scoring a convincing 13-7 victory over Ramkumar Ramanathan.

When Purav Raja and Samantha got together to outplay Niki Poonacha and Sowjanya 13-7, it seemed curtains for Mumbai. However, Ramkumar and Niki combined brilliantly in the men's doubles to win 1-6 over Raja and Rawat and ensure that though they lost the match, they held a slender 2 point lead over Chennai after their league engagements.

In the late matches on Thursday, Bengaluru Spartans kept their hopes alive with a narrow 41-39 win over Pune Jaguars, while Chennai Stallions got the better of Hyderabad Strikers by the same margin. 

Also Read : Valeryla, Vijay Sundar excel for Gujarat Panthers

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New Delhi, Dec 17 (Table Tennis News) India's Hansini Mathan Rajan defeated Syria's Hend Zaza, the youngest athlete of this year's Tokyo Olympics, to win the girls singles event at the 2021 ITTF Hopes and Challenge table tennis tournament in Amman.

Playing in the U-12 category, the reigning cadet national champion outplayed Zaza 11-6, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6 in the final played on December 14.

Parth Prabhakar was India's entry in the boys singles event which was won by Iran's Komeil Niknejad Divshali.

Hansini, who has stayed back in Amman for the camp organised by the Asian Table Tennis Union, said the final was her toughest match of the competition.

"I knew my opponent had gone to the Olympics earlier this year but I didn't think about that while playing her. There was no pressure and I just played my game," said the 12-year-old who considers her backhand the strongest aspect of her game.

During the tournament, she was accompanied by her mother and coach Mamta Prabhu, who is also a former India player.

The Chennai-based Hansini had also secured her second ITTF World Youth Series title with a win the U-13 girls category in Muscat in October. She had won her maiden Youth Series title in Tunisia in September She is coached by India great Sharath Kamal's father Shriniwas Rao and uncle Muralidhar Rao.

"Ever since she started playing the game as a seven year old, she has looked up to Sharath Kamal," said her mother Pratibha referring to India's finest ever paddler.

After the camp in Amman, Hansini will be returning to India to play national level events.

Also Read : TT veteran Sharath Kamal undergoes procedure to treat heel issue

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New Delhi, Dec 13 (Table Tennis News) India's veteran table tennis star A Sharath Kamal has undergone a medical procedure to treat his "severe heel pain".

The 39-year-old Commonwealth Games gold medallist paddler tweeted alongside a picture of him on a hospital bed.

"Was experiencing severe heel pain since 8 months, that got worse in the last 3 months. Good to get treatment post #WorldChampionships now, with preparations starting soon for #CommonwealthGames, and #AsianGames in the coming year!" Sharath tweeted.

"(I) just have some calcium deposit due to wear and tear.. so had to do a small procedure.. need 3 days complete rest," he told PTI.

With multiple medals at top international tournaments, Sharath remains one of the country's finest players in his sport. His prowess was also in full display during his match against the mighty Ma Long in the men's singles round of 32 match at the Tokyo Olympics.

He has nine national titles under his belt, and he made history by winning India's first table tennis gold at the Commonwealth Games, in Melbourne in 2006.

The Asian Games and CWG are slated for next year in Hangzhou, China, and Birmingham respectively. 

Also Read : Payas, Suhana to return home with bronze from the Worlds Youth Table Tennis

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Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal), Dec 8 (Table Tennis news) India's Payas Jain and Suhana Saini signed off with bronze medals after losing their respective semifinal matches at the World Youth table tennis championships here on Wednesday.

While Payas lost his semifinal match to Chinese Peng Xiang, Suhana too went down fighting against top-seeded Egyptian Hana Goda in the last four earlier in the day.

Payas, seeded fourth, had defeated Iran's Naved Shams 11-9, 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4 on Tuesday night to earn a semi-final showdown against Peng Xiang, the winner of the title in 2019 and also assure himself of at least a bronze.

However, the world No. 3 Payas could not reproduce his form in the semi-finals and lost to the Chinese 1-4 (4-11, 12-10, 4-11, 2-11, 1-11) in less than 30 minutes.

The reigning world champion, who executes the forehand and backhand shots with equal felicity, was on song against the Indian, who failed to come to terms with his opponent's onslaughts.

Except perhaps in the second game where Payas managed to seize the moment to win the game on extended points, Peng was all over with his attacking shots.

The last two games exemplified the complete control that the Chinese had. It only added to the pressure on Payas and he could not come out of the cocoon built around him by the Chinese onslaught.

The quarterfinal clash was yet another battle between Payas and Naved, who have met each other before on half a dozen occasions.

With Tuesday's win, Payas has equalled the win-loss records.

Payas was right on the money against the Iranian, breezing through to a 3-0 lead in the quarterfinals.

However, Naved came back strong in the next to pull one down. Yet, Payas was up to the task in the fifth and completed it to romp home.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Payas faced a tough challenge from Nicholas Lum of Australia. But he put the 0-2 deficit behind him to win the match 7-11, 4-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-8, 14-2.

Earlier on Tuesday, Suhana Saini achieved the rare feat of becoming the only Indian to win three medals at the Worlds.

Suhana, however, had to remain contented with the bronze after going down to the top-seeded Egyptian Hana Goda 1-4 (10-12, 11-9, 3-11, 3-11, 8-11) in the semifinals on Wednesday.

In the opening game, Suhana managed to deuce but her Egyptian opponent took the vital two points to go 1-0 up.

In the second, the Indian took a six-point lead at one time to return to form.

But in the third, Hana benefited from Suhana's blemishes to build her lead, taking seven consecutive points.

There was no respite in the fourth as Hana went from strength to strength to take an unassailable lead, forcing an inevitable win in the next.

Also Read : Manika Batra fails to create history for India in World TT

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Houston, Nov 28 (Table Tennis news) Star India paddler Manika Batra failed to bag a medal at the World Table Tennis Championships after crashing out in the quarterfinals of the mixed and women's doubles events here.

Just one win away from a historic medal, Batra and G Sathiyan lost to Japan's Tomakazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata 1-3 (5-11 2-11 11-7 9-11) in the last eight round of the mixed doubles competition.

Batra had another opportunity to create history but she faltered yet again, losing the women's doubles quarterfinals with her partner Archana Kamath in straight games.

Batra and Kamath were no match for Luxembourg duo of Sarah De Nutte and Ni Xia Lian, losing 0-3 (1-11 6-11 8-11) in a lop-sided contest.

Also Read :  India in quarters of women's doubles, mixed doubles at World Championships

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Houston, Nov 27 (Table Tennis news) Manika Batra has reached the quarterfinals in the mixed and women's doubles events at the World Table Tennis Championships, putting India just one win away from a historic medal.

Manika and Archana Kamath defeated Hungary's Dora Madarasz and Georgina Pota 11-4 11-9 6-11 11-7 in the women's doubles round of 16 here on Friday.

They face Luxembourg's Sarah de Nutte and Xia Lian Ni for a place in the semifinals. Bronze medals will be awarded to all the losing semifinalists in the competition.

In the mixed doubles, Manika and G Sathiyan scripted a valiant comeback against USA-China combine of Kanak Jha and Wang Manyu after losing the first two games to reach the quarterfinals.

The Indian pair won 15-17 10-12 12-10 11-6 11-7. They will meet Japan's Harimoto Tomokazu and Hayata Hina in the quarterfinals.

However, the mixed doubles pairing of Sharath Kamal and Archana lost their round of 16 match to France's Jia Nan Yuan and Emmanuel Lebesson.

Also Read : Sathiyan enters round of 32 at World TT Championships

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Houston, Nov 25 (Table Tennis news) India's G Sathiyan progressed to the men's singles third round at the World Table Tennis Championships with a 4-0 win over Russia's Vladimir Sidorenko here.

The world number 37 from India defeated his 179th-ranked opponent 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 in the round of 64. Sathiyan next faces world number 17 Aruna Quadri of Nigeria in the round of 32.

India's top-ranked player, world number 30 Sharath Kamal, had a suffered a disappointing opening round loss on Tuesday.

However, Sharath can still make an impact in the men's doubles alongside Sathiyan and in mixed doubles alongside Archana Kamath.

Sharath and Archana entered the round of 32 with a 3-0 win over Algeria's Sami Kherouf and Katia Kessaci.

Sathiyan and Manika Batra got a first round bye and play their round of 32 mixed doubles match against Puerto Rico's Adriana Diaz and Brian Afanador.

Manika and Archana have got a first round bye in women's doubles.

Also Read :

News Source : Manika, Sharath out of World TT C'ships singles events, Sathiyan enter 2nd round

Houston (US), Nov 24 (Table Tennis News) Star Indian paddler Manika Batra crashed out of the women's singles event in the World Table Tennis Championships Finals with a first round defeat, while Sathiyan Gnanasekaran advanced to the second round of the men's singles here on Wednesday.

Another top Indian player Sharath Kamal also bowed out of the men's singles competition in the first round while Ayhika Mukherjee advanced to the women's singles second round.

Gnanasekaran emerged as the lone Indian to win the men's singles first round match.

Tokyo Olympian Batra, the country's best-ranked women's player, went down 3-4 (11-5, 15-13, 8-11, 4-11, 6-11, 11-4, 7-11) to Brazil's Bruna Takahashi.

Compatriots Sutirtha Mukherjee and Madhurika Patkar lost to South Korea's Choi Hyo-joo (11-8, 4-11, 5-11, 0-11, 4-11) and Japan's Saki Shibata (7-11, 4-11, 3-11, 8-11) respectively.

Ayhika Mukherjee was the lone Indian winner in women's singles in contention as she beat Egypt's Farah Abdel-Aziz 4-2 (11-7, 14-16, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-6).

She will now face Japan's Hina Hayata, the current world No 18, in the round of 64.

Batra has paired up with Sathiyan in the mixed doubles and the duo got a bye in the round of 64. Batra and Archana Kamath have also got a first round bye in women's doubles.

In the men's singles, Tokyo Olympian Gnanasekaran beat Ukraine's Yaroslav Zhmudenko 4-0 (11-2, 11-9, 11-4, 11-3) in the men's singles opening round to set up a clash against Table Tennis Federation of Russia's Vladimir Sidorenko in the round of 64.

All the other three Indian men's singles players -- Sharath Kamal, Anthony Amalraj and Harmeet Desai -- lost their respective first round matches.

The four-time Olympian Sharath Kamal lost to Belgium's Cedric Nuytinck 1-4 (11-9, 5-11, 6-11, 7-11, 9-11) while Harmeet Desai was blanked 0-4 (9-11, 7-11, 7-11, 4-11) by Germany's Benedikt Duda.

Amalraj went down to Nigeria's Bode Abiodun 3-4 (6-11, 11-5, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 9-11, 6-11).

Sharath Kamal is still in the fray in the mixed doubles as he and Archana Kamath beat the Algerian pair of Sami Kherouf and Katia Kessaci 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-7) to make it to the second round.

Sharath Kamal has also paired up with Sathiyan in men's doubles and the duo got a first round bye.

Also Read : Manika-Archana win their maiden women's doubles title in Slovenia

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Lasko (Slovenia), Nov 7 (Table Tennis news) India's Manika Batra and Archana Kamath tasted their first major success as a pair by winning the women's doubles title at the WTT Contender Lasko here on Sunday.

The world number 36 pairing beat the 23rd-ranked combine of Melanie Diaz and Adriana Diaz from Puerto Rico 11-3, 11-8, 12-10. The India duo saved four game points in third set to seal the match.

Manika and Archana had to dig deep to beat China's Liu Weishan and Wang Yidi in the semifinals on Saturday.

"I am very happy to have won this title...it was fun playing throughout as I always enjoy playing doubles with Manika Di. She is playing really well and has a very strong presence on the table which allows me to play freely," Archana told PTI.

In the women's singles, Manika did well to reach the semifinals. 

Also Read : Manika-Archan pair enters final of Lasko WTT Contender event

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Lasko (Slovenia), Nov 6 (Table tennis news) India's Manika Batra and Archana Girish Kamath entered the women's doubles final of the WTT Contender Lasko 2021 table tennis tournament, here on Saturday.

The Indian pair defeated Chinese duo of Liu Weishan and Wang Yidi 3-2 in a pulsating semifinal.

Batra and Kamath walked off with a 11-6 8-11 11-6 5-11 11-8 scoreline against their Chinese rivals.

The Indian pair will face Melanie Diaz and Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico in the summit clash.

Also read : G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai win men's double title at WTT Contender Tunis

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Tunis (Tunisia), Oct 30 (Table tennis news) Indian table tennis duo of G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai notched up a dominating 3-1 win over Emmanual Lebesson and Alexandre Cassin in the summit clash to claim the men's doubles title at the WTT Contender Tunis here on Saturday.

Sathiyan and Desai beat the French duo 11-9 4-11 11-9 11-6.

The Indian duo pocketed the first game but they lost momentum and allowed the French pair to level the match.

Sathiyan and Desai, however, clawed their was back by taking the lead once again and then hardly broke a sweat in winning the fourth game and the title.

"Doubles victory for Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai! #Congratulations for clinching the #WTTTunis Men’s Doubles title! #WTT #tabletennis #pingpong," World Table Tennis (WTT), the commercial and events company of International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), tweeted.

The Indian duo had fashioned a spectacular come-from-behind victory against Hungary's Nandor Ecseki and Adam Szudi in the semifinal on Friday.

Also Read : Paddler Payas Jain becomes World No. 1 in U-17 category

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Tunis (Tunisia), Oct 29 (Table Tennis News) Indian table tennis players G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai reached the men's doubles final of the WTT Contender Tunis after beating Nandor Ecseki and Adam Szudi 3-2 here on Friday.

Sathiyan and Harmeet registered a spectacular come-from-behind victory, getting the better of the Hungarian pair 8-11 12-14 11-9 11-8 11-9 in the semi-finals clash.

The Indian duo will take on Emmanual Lebesson and Alexandre Cassin of France in the finals.

In the mixed doubles event, Sathiyan paired with top-ranked Indian paddler Manika Batra.

The Indian duo lost 2-3 to the French combine of Emmanual Lebesson and Jia Nan Yuan in a close fought semifinal.

Sathiyan and Manika cruised to a two game lead but lost momentum conceding the match 11-7 11-9 6-11 9-11 9-11.

Sathiyan also went down in straight games against Dang Qiu in the men's singles quarterfinals.

The Indian was handed a 5-11 15-17 6-11 loss by his German opponent.

Also Read  : Paddler Payas Jain becomes World No. 1 in U-17 category

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New Delhi, Oct 19 (Table Tennis news) Payas Jain on Tuesday became the second Indian paddler to achieve a World No. 1 ranking, thanks to his title-winning performances in the Under-17 Boys category.

The other Indian who achieved the feat was Manav Thakkar, who became the World No. 1 in the Under-21 category in January 2020.

Incidentally, Payas is the first Delhi paddler to reach the pinnacle of the ITTF world ranking and the youngest Indian to do so.

Payas has had to his credit three Under-17 crowns this season besides a couple of bronze medals in Under-19 in what was his first international appearance since the COVID-19 pandemic played havoc, bringing all activities to an abrupt halt.

He hit the groove with his maiden U-17 title in Slovenia in a tough final against German Tom Schweiger 3-2 in the WTT Youth Contender in Otocec. He followed it up with another crown in the second WTT Youth Contender Championships in Tunis when he outclassed Tom Closset of Belgium a week later.

In Tunisia, he added bronze as a bonus in the Under-19 when he lost in the semi-finals.

Carrying his form to Oman, the Delhi paddler kept his vice-like grip over the age category title when he defeated Kazakhstan’s Alan Kurmangaliyev 3-2 last week. But it was not all.

He ensured that he also brought home the gold in the Under-19 Boys with a 3-0 win over his Delhi rival Yashansh Malik in the final in Muscat. With this win, Payas goes five spots up in WR and is currently lying at No. 7. The second-best Indian, Yashansh, has jumped 22 places to be at 36.

Indeed, all these added to his profile. But the successive titles in Slovenia, Tunis, and Oman sealed him the top-ranking spot in the world as he upstaged Romanian Darius Movileanu, who held the position for quite some time. With Payas at 3458 points on the table, the Romanian is 90 points behind him in the second position.

Also Read : Indian men finish with bronze in Asian TT C'ships after loss to Korea

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Doha, Oct 1 (Table Tennis news) The Indian men's table tennis team signed off with a bronze medal in the Asian Championships after losing to formidable South Korea 0-3 in the semifinals here on Friday.

The Indian team was on Wednesday assured of a medal after beating Iran 3-1 in the quarterfinals. Both the semifinalists secure a bronze.

In the semifinals, the clinical South Koreans proved too tough for the Indians who failed to win a single tie.

With a medal already in their pocket, the Indian paddlers took on the Koreans head-on. But the rampaging Koreans, also the top seeds, were a far better side.

Starting the match for India, G Sathiyan found himself pushed to the corner straightaway as world No. 12 Korean Woojin Jang brought into focus his backhand game and attacked throughout, often catching the world No. 38 Indian on the wrong foot.

The Korean eventually won 11-5, 10-12, 11-8, 11-5 to provide the lead. Sathiyan was in a good position in his second game but allowed the Korean to take it to deuce before winning it on extended points.

In contrast, A Sharath Kamal began well only to squander the 2-1 advantage. He allowed the world No. 22 Lee Sangsu to come back, especially in the last two games, and post a 7-11, 15-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9 triumph.

Though Harmeet Desai did not begin well against Seungmin Cho, he brought back momentum to his game to lead 2-1.

But the world No. 77, five places behind Harmeet, made most of the chances to win some crucial points to level 2-2.

In the decider, none had any noticeable big-lead gain, both winning their service points. At 10-8, Harmeet could not force his opponent into mistakes allowing Cho to deuce.

With service on, the Indian led 11-10, but that was all he could do as the Korean sealed his country's place in the final with three straight points, including a breakpoint. Cho won 11-4, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 13-11 in 43 minutes.

The young Indian women's team showed courage and commitment in positions playoff and beating Thailand 3-1 to finish fifth. The mainstay of India's win was Olympian Sutirtha Mukherjee.

Archana Kamath played the opener against the top-ranked Suthsani Sawettabut. The Thai, who is ranked No. 38 in the world, showed good form initially.

But Archana caught up with her soon to level the score at 2-2, as the Indian picked four consecutive points to win. However, the experienced Thai prevailed 11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9 by winning the decider.

Teenager Phantita Pinyopisan was no match for Mukherjee, ranked 97 in the world. The Indian defeated her in 18 minutes to win the contest 11-5, 11-5, 11-6.

Sreeja Akula then clinched her match 11-7, 11-6, 11-2 against another youngster Wirakarn Tayapitak.

Mukherjee returned to the table for her reverse singles and tamed the fighting Sawettabut 11-7, 11-6, 10-12, 117. 

Also Read : Indian paddlers shine in ITTF Kazakhstan Open

News source : PTI