Despite losing their pre-quarterfinal matches at the ITTF World Table Tennis Team Championships in Busan, the Indian men’s and women’s teams will qualify for the Olympics for the first time in history by finishing last in the world rankings.
It is the first time India has qualified for an Olympic team event in table tennis since the event was introduced at the 2008 Beijing Games. While the official team rankings will be released on March 4, both table tennis teams have qualified for Paris. The men’s table tennis team, led by 10-time national champion Sharath Kamal, was defeated 3-0 by a far superior team from hosts Korea.
The women fought valiantly but were defeated 1-3 by the higher-ranked Chinese Taipei team, which included World No.10 Cheng I-Ching and World No.41 Szu-Yu Chen. The sport is closely contested because only 16 teams qualify, and two wins at the Olympics secure a medal.