Indian Contingent Set for ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships in London
Overview of the Championships
A 10-member Indian team, featuring Olympians Manika Batra, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Manav Thakkar, and Harmeet Desai, is all set to compete in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Team Table Tennis Championships in London starting Tuesday.
Tournament Format and Structure
The championships will include distinct competitions for men and women, known as the Swaythling Cup and the Corbillon Cup, respectively. Each tie will consist of up to five singles matches, with the first team to secure three wins advancing to the next round, as detailed by Olympics.com.
A total of 64 teams will participate, split into four groups of 16 for both men's and women's events. The top two seeded groups, which include the seven highest-ranked teams and host nation England, will begin in Stage 1a, while the remaining teams will compete in Stage 1b.
All eight teams from Stage 1a will progress to Stage 2, which will feature knockout matches. Group games will still be played to establish seedings for the next stage. From Stage 1b, the 14 group winners and six best second-placed teams will qualify for Stage 2, while the remaining eight second-placed teams will compete in preliminary matches to determine four additional qualifiers. The knockout phase will commence from the round of 32 and continue until the finals.
India's Draw and Key Players
The Indian men's team, spearheaded by world number 38 Manav Thakkar, is placed in group seven of Stage 1b, competing against Slovakia, Tunisia, and Guatemala. The women's squad, led by world number 49 Manika Batra, will face Ukraine, Uganda, and Rwanda in Group 6 of Stage 1b.
Championship History
Since its inception as a standalone event in 2000, the World Team Table Tennis Championships have seen China dominate the competition. Apart from Sweden's men's victory in 2000 and Singapore's women's win in 2010, China has claimed all other titles.
The current edition of the championships will conclude on May 10.
World Table Tennis Championships 2026: Indian Squad
*World Table Tennis Championships 2026: Indian squad - Men's team: Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah, G Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Payas Jain - Women's team: Manika Batra, Yashaswini Ghorpade, Diya Chitale, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Syndrela Das.