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The Indian men's and women's teams secured their spots in the round of 16 stage of the ongoing World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan, South Korea on Wednesday, with both sides just a victory away from Paris Olympics 2024 quota.
Upto eight Paris 2024 team quotas are available for men's and women's events each during the championships and moving to the quarterfinals will help them secure the quotas. First, it was the Indian women's side that beat Italy 3-0, as per Olympics.com. The 49th-ranked Sreeja Akula ensured India started off well, beating world No. 295 Nikoleta Stefanova 3-0 (12-10, 11-6, 11-7) in 20 minutes. The world number 36 Manika Batra, India's top-ranked women's player made quick work Girogia Piccolin, beating her in just 23 minutes by 3-0 (12-10, 11-6, 11-5). In the third match of the tie, Ayhika Mukherjee faced a brief slum but nonetheless beat Gaia Monfardini 3-1 (15-13, 11-9, 15-13, 11-8) to complete a clean sweep victory for India. India's next challenge is against heavyweight side Chinese Taipei. Later during the day, the men's team also defeated Kazakhstan by 3-2 and joined their women's counterparts in the round of 16. Harmeet, the world number 67, lost to Gerassimenko Kirill by 3-2 (9-11, 12-10, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8) to give India a 1-0 lead while multi-time Sharath Kamal beat Alan Kurmangaliyev by 3-2 to level the scoreline for India (11-6, 11-7, 7-11, 11-13, 9-11). India was put into lead by a win in third match of the tie by Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, who defeated Aidos Kenzhigulov 3-1 (6-11, 11-5, 2-11, 7-11). However, a tie-levelling victory by Kirill dragged the tie to the fifth match, outdoing Sharath by 3-1 (11-4, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7). Harmeet, the top-ranked men's player in the country, held his nerves and won India the decider match-up, beating world number 211 Kurmangaliyev by 3-1 (11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7), winning a spot in the round of 16 by 3-2. (ANI)
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