Indian players show notable performances at the World Table Tennis Championships
Abishek Ravichandran made his debut appearance at the GAC GROUP 2011 World Table Tennis Championships where he ended at the top position in his group in the qualification rounds which were completed on May 9 at the Ahoy Arena Rotterdam, Netherlands.
In the opening match of the Men's Singles Abishek, defeated the player from the host country Boris de Vries. The match extended to five games and the Indian player won the fifth decider game of the match scoring, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7. The victory
was not celebrated by the spectators as they were disappointed by the defeat the host nation player faced.
Ravichandran said, “During the match I thought back to the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi last year when everybody was cheering for me, I tried to imagine what it would have been like in New Delhi if I had not been from India.”
The Indian squad is led by Achanta Sharath Kamal at the World Championships. The players from India received an intense 21-days training at the Zhengding National Training Centre in China. The Indian players are hoping to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics,
if they show an exceptional performance during the current championships the chances are high that they might get a chance.
The Indian players are in high hopes to make an impression in the main draws of the World Championships. Ravichandran remained focused through the group rounds and played an outstanding fore-hand and back-hand spins during the matches. His consistency was
clearly depicted in his style of play.
In 2010 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Pro Tour Harmony China Open, Abishek progressed successfully to the main rounds of the Men's Singles category. However, he faced defeat in the first match of the round. In the Egypt and the Moroccan Open
the same year he made it to the second round of the main draws.
The Indian team made it to the group stage matches. There was success for Amalraj Anthony, Subhajit Saha and Achanta Sharath Kamal in the group rounds. Only Achanta Sharath Kamal made to the main draws as the rest of the players were defeated in the first
or second rounds of the preliminary stage.
Achanta was not able to maintain his progress in the first match of the main round as he was defeated by Chen Chien-An from Chinese Taipei. The Indian player only won one game of the match scoring, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 and 11-9.
The results were not what the Indian team had expected but still the progress they have shown in the qualification rounds was notable. Table Tennis is dominated by Chinese, Japanese and Korean players, for players from other nations the situation is not
that bright in the future to excel in the sport.
Tags: