CHENNAI: With the Paris Olympics fast approaching, India’s top table tennis mixed doubles pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra will have their task cut out in the upcoming World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification in Havirov, the Czech Republic. The top four pairs from the two-day tournament, scheduled for April 11 and 12, will qualify for Paris.
“This is going to be one of the toughest mixed doubles tournaments as most of the top teams are set to participate. This time, we do not have a dedicated Asian qualifying tournament and will play directly in the world qualifier, the last tournament for Paris qualification. A total of 32 pairs will be eyeing the four spots,” Sathiyan told TOI.
Six pairs have already secured their quotas for Paris where a total of 16 teams will compete, with France earning a ticket for being the hosts. Four of the remaining nine slots will be decided at the world qualifier, while five will be based on ITTF rankings. “To get accustomed to the conditions, we will be heading to Croatia to play in WTT Feeder next week and then to the Czech Republic. Manika and I had short training stints in Mumbai, Indore and Bengaluru earlier this year. However, with the tight scheduling of WTT tournaments, we did not get extended time to train together,” Sathiyan added.
The 32 teams in the world qualifying event will be divided into two halves for the first set of knockouts, with the winner from each half progressing to the Olympics, on the opening day of the tournament. The remaining 30 teams will have to compete for the remaining two spots. On the second day, the pairs will get seeded based on the first day’s performance, and they will again be divided into two halves. “The two-day event will be intense. Physically, it is going to be exhausting, but we have been preparing for this challenge for quite some time. Our mixed doubles form has improved in recent times.”
Currently, Sathiyan and Manika are ranked 17th in the ITTF mixed doubles rankings and will rely on the tournament to qualify for Paris.
After a poor start to the season, the former top-5 pair is slowly getting back into the groove. They finished runners-up at the WTT Feeder II in Beirut recently, helping them gain much-needed momentum.
“This is going to be one of the toughest mixed doubles tournaments as most of the top teams are set to participate. This time, we do not have a dedicated Asian qualifying tournament and will play directly in the world qualifier, the last tournament for Paris qualification. A total of 32 pairs will be eyeing the four spots,” Sathiyan told TOI.
Six pairs have already secured their quotas for Paris where a total of 16 teams will compete, with France earning a ticket for being the hosts. Four of the remaining nine slots will be decided at the world qualifier, while five will be based on ITTF rankings. “To get accustomed to the conditions, we will be heading to Croatia to play in WTT Feeder next week and then to the Czech Republic. Manika and I had short training stints in Mumbai, Indore and Bengaluru earlier this year. However, with the tight scheduling of WTT tournaments, we did not get extended time to train together,” Sathiyan added.
The 32 teams in the world qualifying event will be divided into two halves for the first set of knockouts, with the winner from each half progressing to the Olympics, on the opening day of the tournament. The remaining 30 teams will have to compete for the remaining two spots. On the second day, the pairs will get seeded based on the first day’s performance, and they will again be divided into two halves. “The two-day event will be intense. Physically, it is going to be exhausting, but we have been preparing for this challenge for quite some time. Our mixed doubles form has improved in recent times.”
Currently, Sathiyan and Manika are ranked 17th in the ITTF mixed doubles rankings and will rely on the tournament to qualify for Paris.
After a poor start to the season, the former top-5 pair is slowly getting back into the groove. They finished runners-up at the WTT Feeder II in Beirut recently, helping them gain much-needed momentum.
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