Asian Table Tennis Championships: Star paddler Manika Batra was left out of the Indian squad for the continental tournament, starting September 29 in Doha. Manika did not attend the mandatory national camp in Sonepat.

Table tennis star Manika Batra was left out of the Indian squad which will be featuring at the Asian Championships, starting September 28. Manika Batra, who came up with an impressive show at the Tokyo Olympics, missed the ticket to Doha after she did not attend the mandatory national camp organised by the TTFI in Sonepat.

In the absence of Manika Batra, 97th-ranked Sutirtha Mukherjee will lead the women''s team. The other members are Ayhika Mukherjee (ranked 131) and Archana Kamath (132).

Veteran Sharath Kamal (ranked 33) will spearhead the men''s challenge at the Asian Championships in Doha in the company of G Sathiyan (38), Harmeet Desai (72), Manav Thakkar (134) and Sanil Shetty (247).

The Table Tennis Federation of India had made it clear that any player not attending the camp will not be considered for selection.

Manika had informed the federation that she would like to continue training with her personal coach in Pune. Notably, Manika had alleged national coach Soumaydeep Roy of match fixing, claiming that he had asked her to throw matches during the Olympic qualifiers.

The TTFI has formed an inquiry panel to probe the allegations.

Sathiyan, Desai and Sutirtha joined the national camp late due to different reasons. Sathiyan was playing in Poland, Harmeet was in Germany while Sutirtha was down with fever.

India squad for Table Tennis Asian Championships 2021

Men's team: Manav Thakkar, Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty.
Men's doubles: Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan; Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai.
Women's team: Sutirtha Mukherjee, Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee, Archana Kamath.
Women's doubles: Archana Kamath and Sreeja Akula; Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee.
Mixed doubles: Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath; Harmeet Desai and Sreeja Akula. (With PTI Inputs)