Asian Table Tennis Championships | Indias goal is to vary the medal color, says Sourav Chakraborty

The Indian males’s workforce has already scripted a hat-trick of bronze medals on the Asian Table Tennis Championships, whereas the ladies opened their account with a podium end within the earlier version. As the continental occasion returns to residence soil, coach Sourav Chakraborty is hopeful of not only a repeat — however an improve.

“Last time we had two bronze medals within the males’s and ladies’s workforce occasions, so the goal is to vary the medal color,” Sourav informed The Hindu on Friday.

“It could be very a lot attainable as a result of our gamers are in superb form. I’m very assured that the groups will actually do effectively. The draw is nice. We have a very good alternative to go additional.”

The left-handed duo of Sourav and Sachin Shetty have been helping head coach Massimo Costantini in India’s bid to consolidate its place among the many top-four groups in Asia — a continent that continues to dominate the worldwide desk tennis panorama.

While Sourav expects Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar to rise to the event within the males’s occasion, he admitted that the ladies’s squad will really feel the absence of Sreeja Akula (dominated out with a shoulder damage).

“It could be very unlucky. We really feel very sorry for her, in fact. I want her a speedy restoration in order that she will come again very quickly and be part of the workforce. But we now have a senior like Manika (Batra) with an exuberance of youth, and it’s a improbable mixture.”

India squads: Men: Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah, Ankur Bhattacharjee, Payas Jain, SFR Snehit.

Women: Manika Batra, Diya Chitale, Yashaswini Ghorpade, Swastika Ghosh, Sutirtha Mukherjee.