The Indian men's team clinically secures a spot in the squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics by defeating Chile 3-0 without dropping a match in the Group 3 opening match of the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan on Saturday. I started a search for this. Unlike the Indian women, who lost 3-2 to defending champions China in their first match on Friday, the 16th-ranked men had a much easier battle against 33rd-ranked Chile to begin with.
Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal, who has fallen to 95th place in the WTT singles rankings, secured an important 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-6) result against world No. 53 Nicolas Burgos. He achieved victory. India's top-ranked Harmeet Desai (67th) then had little trouble fending off Gustavo Gomez (148th) 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-6), while G. Satiyan was slightly pulled away by Felipe Olivarez, but then again. He won 3-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-8).
It was an interesting call-up to have the experienced Sharath in the opening match against top-ranked Harmeet. Sharath, 41, has refocused his training goals to move up in this tournament after a dismal showing in recent months.
So a win against higher-ranked Burgos should give him some confidence. Sharas was particularly impressive on the backhand wing, drawing out mistakes from Chile's top players with his blocks and drives. He extended his lead in the first game and held it, before locking the score at 3-3 in the second game. That's when Sharath broke, winning five points on the bounce, cementing his authority in the match and drawing it.
Halmeto's match played out similarly against the left-handed Gomez. After getting through the first game well, Harmeet found himself in a tight spot with three wins and five losses in the second game, but after that he scored five consecutive points. The Indian finished the match with two no-return serves.
Sathyan, like Sharath, is also in a difficult situation as his ranking has fallen to 104th, but he was selected ahead of the young Manav Thakkar, who is 86 years old and India's second-ranked player. The 2022 CWG singles bronze medalist struggled a bit with the southpaw Olivarez, and even had a game point in the opening round. A quick forehand winner to close out the rally got Sathyan out of there and into two more comfortable games. The men's team will face 18th-ranked Poland next Sunday, while the women's team will face Hungary.