NEW DELHI: Heading into the World Team Qualification Tournament, the Indian men’s team was in a unique situation. Tagged as favourites to qualify for Tokyo Olympics, there was a lot of pressure on them; something that played a big part in their unexpected ouster at the hands of the unheralded Czech Republic. Even after their loss to Slovenia on Friday, very few would have bet against India in this clash. The doubles pair of A Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai began with a loss against Tomas Polansky and Lubomir Jancarik, despite taking the first game.
G Sathiyan, India’s top-ranked paddler and the current in-form player, lost both his singles ties against Polansky and Pavel Sirucek. Sharath was the lone victor for India as he beat Jancarik to briefly ignite hopes.
Sathiyan himself admitted that he was not at his best during the course of the tournament. “I raise my hands and admit that I could not play my best game. My connection was not smooth and my speed, which is usually my strong point, did not work out. I had a good record with close games over the last few months, but I just could not get over the line this time around,” the World No 30 told this daily from Gondomar (Portugal). Sathiyan won only one of his four matches in this meet.
Sharath acknowledged that his team had been under pressure, something he has not known since he started playing the sport. “Indian TT players are not used to being tagged as favourites. We are partly to blame. Our performances over the last two years had raised expectations. This was by far the strongest Indian team with all three (including Harmeet Desai) in the top-100 and in good nick. It is disappointing to say the least.” The dejection in his voice was quite apparent. Things will get tougher for the men as only two singles spots are up for grabs. With the introduction of South Asian quota, one of Sharath or Sathiyan will get entry during the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bangkok in April. After that, rankings enter the fray.“Two can and should qualify. But we need to buck up and play at our optimum level to avoid further hiccups. This is a wake-up call,” Sharath opined.
Women impress despite exit
The women’s team had bowed out after losing to France on Saturday. But few would have expected them to cross the first hurdle against Sweden. That they managed to overcome their World Championship vanquishers and run European champions Romania close were heartening developments. Their loss to France was, however, unexpected.
Coach Soumyadeep Roy agreed that the women were impressive in the opening two matches. “We played outstandingly against Sweden and Romania. Sutirtha Mukherjee’s win against Bernadette Szocs and the way Archana Kamath played in the first match are huge bonuses. Luck was not on our side against France.”
When asked why Archana was not played in the last two matches, the coach revealed that she had suffered a sprain, adding that both Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee had made up for her absence.