ITTF World Team TT C’ships: India men’s, women’s team reach stage 2

LONDON: Indian men’s and women’s teams at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships made it to stage two, topping the tables in stage one groups with wins in their final group stage ties on Thursday. The Indian women’s team outclassed Rwanda 3-0, while the men’s team also secured a win over Guatemala at the OVO Arena, Wembley.

Earlier, the Indian women’s team had started off their campaign by getting a walkover against Uganda and edging past Ukraine in their second tie to top the Stage 1b Group 6, as per Olympics.com. On the other hand, the men’s team clean-swept Tunisia 3-0 in the first tie and beat Slovakia in the second one, topping the Stage 1b Group 7.

Against Rwanda, the Olympian and world number 48 paddler Manika Batra set the tone, outclassing Chantal Hirwa in an absolute one-sided contest with a 3-0 (11-3, 11-3, 11-3) win, followed by Diya Chitale brushing aside Elevine Tumukunde 3-0 (11-2, 11-1, 11-3). Syndrela Das delivered the killer blow and sealed a victory for the women’s side.

Coming to the men’s action, the Olympian Sathiyan Gnanasekaran started out with a 3-0 win (11-3, 11-2, 11-9) against Sergio Carrillo. Later, the world number 61st Manav Thakkar eased past Ian Morales 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-5). Payas Jain closed out the tie with a 3-0 triumph (11-5, 11-5, 11-6) against Ricardo Gatica.

The championship is witnessing 64 teams in action, divided into groups of four of 16 teams each, participating in each of the men’s and women’s events. The World Team TT Championships were started as a standalone tournament back in 2000, and are set to conclude on May 10. (ANI)