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India's star table tennis player Manika Batra has been left out of the country's main squad for the Asian Games 2026 and has instead been named among the reserves, according to Olympics.com.
Olympians Sreeja Akula and G Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will lead the 10-member Indian table tennis contingent for the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Games. The squad comprises five men and five women, along with two reserves in each category. Selections were made based on the federation's policy, which gives 50 per cent weightage to national rankings, 40 per cent to world rankings, and 10 per cent to the selection committee's discretion. Despite being one of India's most accomplished paddlers, Manika Batra failed to secure a place in the main squad. The 31-year-old was placed among the reserves, largely due to her absence from domestic competitions, which affected her national ranking. This came even though she remains the second-highest-ranked Indian in women's singles on the international circuit. The women's team will be led by Sreeja Akula, currently India's top-ranked female player at world number 45, ahead of Manika. The squad also includes Yashaswini Ghorpade, Diya Chitale, Sutirtha Mukherjee and emerging player Syndrela Das. On the men's side, veteran Sathiyan will spearhead the team alongside Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah and Payas Jain. Table tennis events at the Asian Games 2026 will be held from September 20 to 28, featuring team, singles and doubles competitions. India has so far won only three medals in table tennis at the Asian Games, all of them bronze. Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal had clinched a mixed doubles bronze in Jakarta 2018, while Harmeet Desai, Sathiyan and Manav Thakkar were part of the men's team that also secured bronze in the same edition. Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee added another bronze in women's doubles at Hangzhou 2023. Asian Games 2026: India table tennis squad Men: G Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah, Payas Jain. Women: Sreeja Akula, Yashaswini Ghorpade, Diya Chitale, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Syndrela Das. Reserves: Ankur Bhattacharjee, Ronit Bhanja (men); Swastika Ghosh, Manika Batra (women). (ANI)
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