Table tennis championship: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manika 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.