Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra lead home charge

Ahmedabad: Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra will be India’s flag-bearers when the 30th Asian Cup table tennis championship begins at the TransStadia here on Friday.

The three-day event will see 32 top paddlers — men and women — of the continent battle it out for supremacy.

Clubbed in Group C with Japan’s world no. 6  Mizutani Jun, world no. 12  Lee Sangsu from South Korea and world no. 29 Lin Gaoyuan of China, it will be an uphill task for Sharath. Matches will be played on a round-robin basis and the top two players from the four groups will advance to the quarter-finals.

“I will take one game at a time. All are tough players to crack. This is the tournament where the best (in the continent) play, it is very hard to win a match especially in my case where I am in the top 12 of the tournament. Nevertheless I have beaten these players. I am looking forward to these kind of top quality matches,” Sharath told this paper after the draw here on Thursday.

Sharat said he is looking forward to home crowd support as he opens his campaign against Lee.

“Playing in India is always been nice. I have always performed well at home. I hope this time also I perform well. Since the beginning of the year I have been playing very well. I won the nationals after a long time. I played the semi-finals in the Indian Open. In the world championships I entered the round of 32,” the world no. 47 said.

“This tournament is a milestone one. It is a ticket to the World Cup… if I enter the quarter-finals, I stand a very good chance. And playing at the World Cup could take me to the top 30 in the world. A lot of things depend on this tournament now. Mostly it depends on the first match,” Sharath added.

All quarter-finalists will earn automatic berths at the men’s world Cup to be held in October at Liege, Belgium.

Meanwhile, women’s Olympic team gold medalist and four-time winner of the Asian Cup Liu Shiwen and former Asian Cup champion and world no. 2 Fan Zhendong will start as favourites in the women’s and men’s category, respectively.

Batra, who gained her spot through regional quota, has her task cut out in Group D. The 13th seed has Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut, Qatar’s Aia Mohamed and Neda Shahsavari of Iran, all behind her in seeding.