All posts tagged: ITTF

Coach Massimo takes blame for ITTF World Team C’ships flop show; targets hard reset before Asian Games

Coach Massimo takes blame for ITTF World Team C’ships flop show; targets hard reset before Asian Games

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The Indian table tennis teams had a forgettable outing at the 2026 ITTF World Championships, losing in the first round of knockouts last week. While the women’s team went down to the United States 1-3, the men were blanked 0-3 by a lower-ranked Austria, who have no paddlers ranked in top-100 of the men’s singles world rankings. Manush Shah in the first match of the tie against Robert Gardos was the only one to put up a fight in the contest, losing a hard-fought battle in the decider. Manav Thakkar, the highest-ranked Indian, and veteran Sathiyan Gnansekaran were both swept 3-0 by Daniel Habesohn and Andreas Levenko, respectively. “The result was really not ideal,” national coach Massimo Costantini told The Bridge days after the team’s exit. “We knew we had a good chance, but unfortunately, we didn’t perform well,” he added. The Indian trio looked completely out of sorts in the contest, struggling to cope with the attacking game the Austrians employed. They were, more often than not, caught in awkward positions on the table …

ITTF World Team Table Tennis C’ships: Manika Batra, Manav lead India’s charge

ITTF World Team Table Tennis C’ships: Manika Batra, Manav lead India’s charge

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India’s top table tennis stars, led by Olympians Manika Batra, G Sathiyan, Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai, will take centre stage at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships 2026, beginning April 28 in London. Set to be held at the iconic OVO Arena Wembley, the tournament brings together 64 teams each in the men’s and women’s competitions, making it one of the most competitive global team events in the sport. The championships feature two prestigious trophies, the Swaythling Cup (men) and the Corbillon Cup (women). Each tie consists of up to five singles matches, with the first team to win three matches progressing, placing equal importance on squad depth and consistency. India’s challenge India enters the tournament through Stage 1b, a tougher route compared to the top-seeded teams placed directly in Stage 1a. The men’s team, led by world No. 38 Manav Thakkar, have been drawn in Group 7 alongside Slovakia, Tunisia and Guatemala. On paper, it’s a manageable group, but the margin for error remains minimal given the qualification rules. The women’s team, …

ITTF World Team Table Tennis C’ships: Manika Batra, Manav lead India’s charge

Check out India men and women’s complete draws for 2026 ITTF World Team C’ships

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The Indian men’s table tennis team was drawn in Group 7 alongside Slovakia, Tunisia, and Guatemala for the 2026 ITTF World Team Championships on Monday. Meanwhile, the Indian women were drawn in Group 6 along with Ukraine, Uganda, and Rwanda. The Indian teams will start their campaign in Stage 1b and will have to finish on top of their four-team group to advance to the knock out stages, starting from Round of 32. The six best second-placed teams will also move to the knockouts, while the remaining eight second-placed teams will play a knock-out among themselves to advance to the main draw. Slated to begin with Stage 1a with the top teams who directly have a spot in the knockout stages, the 2026 ITTF World Team Championships will mark 100 years since the competition’s first edition in 1926. Men’s Groups Group 1: China, Sweden, Korea Republic, England Group 2: France, Japan, Germany, Chinese Taipei Group 3: Denmark, Madagascar, Mexico, Mongolia Group 4: Brazil, Hungary, Puerto Rico, Uzbekistan Group 5: Slovenia, Czechia, Spain, Bahrain Group 6: …

ITTF Mixed Team World Cup: India crash out winless in group stage

ITTF Mixed Team World Cup: India crash out winless in group stage

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India crashed out of the 2025 ITTF Mixed Team World Cup following a loss to Australia in the third and final group match in Chengdu, China on Tuesday. The Indian team’s 5-8 loss to Australia meant that they failed to register a single tie win in the week-long tournament. The Indian paddlers started on a strong note, with Manav Thakkar and Swastika Ghosh registering a 2-1 (11-6, 2-11, 11-7) win over Hwan Bae and Constantina Psihogios in mixed doubles against Australia. India was quick to give away their advantage as Yashaswini Ghorpade lost her women’s singles tie in the contest. The 20-year-old lost to Yangzi Liu 1-2 (12-10, 3-11, 8-11) as Australia leveled the score at 3-3. With the match evenly poised, the onus was on Olympian Sathiyan Gnanasekaran but he too failed to make an impact, losing to Finn Luu 1-2 (10-12, 9-11, 11-0). Commonwealth Games medalist Manika Batra and Diya Chitale too lost their women’s doubles encounter to Constantina Psihogios-Yangzi Liu 1-2 (11-8, 7-11, 8-11). The men’s doubles pair of Akash Pal and …

India falls 4–8 to Japan at the ITTF Mixed Team Worlds

India falls 4–8 to Japan at the ITTF Mixed Team Worlds

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India delivered a spirited performance but went down 4–8 to Japan in their second pool-stage match at the ITTF Mixed Team World Championships. Despite the defeat, the tie featured two notable highlights for India, with Manika Batra and Manav Thakkar registering wins over top-10 global opponents. Japan took the early lead when Yashaswini Ghorpade and Akash Pal lost the mixed doubles opener 0–3 to Miwa Harimoto and Shunsuke Togami. The straight-game defeat placed India under immediate pressure in the eight-rubber contest. Manika Batra then produced one of the standout results of her career, defeating world No. 8 Mima Ito 2–1 (9–11, 11–8, 11–8). The victory marked her first-ever win over the Japanese star and levelled the overall tie at 1–1, giving India a significant boost. Manav Thakkar added a second win for India with a composed performance in the men’s singles rubber against world No. 8 Sora Matsushima. Thakkar prevailed 2–1 (11–9, 11–4, 6–11), putting India ahead for the first time in the tie. However, Japan regained control through the women’s doubles. The pairing of …

Divyanshi Bhowmick wins U15 singles bronze at ITTF Youth Worlds

Divyanshi Bhowmick wins U15 singles bronze at ITTF Youth Worlds

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Divyanshi Bhowmick produced one of India’s most significant results in youth table tennis by winning the bronze medal in the U15 girls’ singles at the ITTF Youth World Table Tennis Championships in Cluj-Napoca. The 14-year-old also secured her second medal of the competition, following the U15 girls’ team bronze earlier in the tournament. With this result, Divyanshi becomes only the third Indian ever to win a singles medal at the Youth World Championships, joining Payas Jain (2021) and Suhana Saini (2021). Divyanshi started strongly in the round of 32, defeating Ireland’s Jade Morice. In the round of 16, she overcame South Korea’s Kim Minseo 4–2. Her quarterfinal win over Japan’s Kokomi Ishida was the standout result of her campaign. Divyanshi prevailed 4–2 (11–9, 13–11, 10–12, 11–9, 11–7). Her run ended in the semifinals with a 1–4 loss to China’s Zhu Qihui (11–4, 12–10, 10–12, 11–6, 11–8). The bronze marks another step forward for emerging Indian talent on the global stage and underlines Divyanshi’s potential as one of the country’s brightest prospects. Disclaimer: We do not …

India falls 4–8 to Japan at the ITTF Mixed Team Worlds

ITTF Mixed Team World Cup 2025: Manav, Manika to lead India in now Olympic event – Preview

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Ace paddlers Manika Batra, and Manav Thakkar will lead the Indian contingent at the 2025 ITTF Mixed Team World Cup, which is all set to commence in Chengdu, China on Sunday. This is the first edition of the Mixed Team World Cup since the mixed team event was added to the Olympic roster for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games earlier this year. Joining Batra and Thakkar for the event will be veteran Olympian Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Akash Pal, the young Payas Jain, Yashashwini Ghorpade, Swastika Ghosh, and Diya Chitale. Format The 2025 ITTF Mixed Team World Cup will be played in three stages with 16 teams from across the globe in contention. In the first stage, the 16 teams will be divided into a four groups of four teams each. Each team will play a group stage round-robin, with the top two teams from the group advancing to the next stage. In the second stage, the qualified teams from Stage 1 will all compete in a single group. All teams will play each other with …

ITTF World Youth C’ships 2025: India U19 boys bag silver medal

ITTF World Youth C’ships 2025: India U19 boys bag silver medal

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The Indian U19 boys team clinched a historic silver medal at the 2025 ITTF World Youth Championships in Romania on Monday. Having already written their name in the history books as the first Indian team to reach the final of a table tennis world championships, the team comprising of Ankur Bhattacharjee, PB Abhinandh, and Priyanuj Bhattacharya took home the silver medal following a 0-3 loss to Japan in the final. Bhattacharjee, playing the first match of the final, went down 2-3 in a hard fought battle to Ryuusei Kawasaki. He fought hard before going down 17-15, 6-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-13. Bhattacharjee, in fact, had a 7-3 lead in the decider before Kawaski turned the tables to help Japan to a 1-0 lead in the tie. India never recovered from that blow. Abhinandh and Bhattacharya were both bested 0-3 by Kazuki Yoshiyama and Tamito Watanabe as India settled for the silver medal. Earlier, India had pipped Chinese Taipei 3-2 in the semi-finals to set up a title clash, on Sunday. Disclaimer: We do not own any …

ITTF World Youth C’ships 2025: India U19 boys reach final for the first time in history; U15 girls win bronze

ITTF World Youth C’ships 2025: India U19 boys reach final for the first time in history; U15 girls win bronze

Published by Webster

In a historic first for Indian table tennis, the country’s U19 boys’ team stormed into the final of the 2025 ITTF World Youth Championships in Romania on Monday. Up against a formidable opponents in the form of Chinese Taipei in the semi-finals, the Indian team comprising of rising stars Ankur Bhattacharjee, PB Abhinandh, and Priyanuj Bhattacharya registered a 3-2 win to advance to the gold medal match. India will now face Japan in the final on Tuesday. Bhattacharjee got India off to a good start in the semi-final, winning his first match against Hsu Hsien-Chia 3-2. Though Chinese Taipei drew level in the next match with Kuo Guan-Hong beating Abhinandh 3-1, Bhattacharya put India back in the lead with a hard fought 3-2 win over Lin Chin-Ting. Chinese Taipei once again fought back to equalise as Kuo took down Bhattacharjee 3-0 in straight games but Abhinandh, who had lost the first match, returned the favour with a 3-0 win over Hsu to seal a famous win for India. Earlier, India had beaten France 3-0 in …

ITTF World C’ships Live: Manika Batra, Manav Thakkar in action

ITTF World C’ships Live: Manika Batra, Manav Thakkar in action

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ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Doha 2025 Live: The second batch of Indian paddlers will compete in the first round of the 2025 Table Tennis World Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday. Five Indian paddlers, including Manika Batra, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, and Manav Thakkar, will be in action at the singles round of 128 matches. In contrast, the men’s doubles duo of Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai will be in action in the round of 64. In mixed doubles, both Indian pairs of Diya / Manush and Yashaswini / Harmeet will begin their campaign in the first round. Catch all the live action here: Disclaimer: We do not own any of the content, ideas, images, or text presented here. All rights belong to their respective owners. For more information and to view the original source, please visit the following link: Source link