India’s campaign ends in round of 32

India’s campaign at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships 2026 came to an end on Tuesday after both the men’s and women’s teams lost their respective round of 32 matches.

The Indian women’s team lost 3-1 to the United States of America, while the men’s team was blanked 3-0 by Austria at the OVO Arena Wembley, London.

In India men’s tie against Austria, world No. 51 Manush Shah put on a spirited performance in the opening rubber but went down 3-2 (6-11, 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 13-11) against Olympian Robert Gardos.

India failed to recover after the early setback with both world No. 39 Manav Thakkar and Olympian Sathiyan Gnanasekaran losing their respective matches.

Manav Thakkar was beaten 3-0 (11-7, 115, 11-6) by Daniel Habesohn, while G Sathiyan, ranked 42nd, lost 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-9) to Andreas Levenko, ending India men’s run.

Earlier in Stage 1b Group 7, the Indian men’s team blanked Tunisia and Guatemala 3-0 and rallied to beat Slovakia to finish on top of their group and progress to Stage 2.

A total of 64 teams - divided into 16 groups of four - began the men’s and women’s event, with the top two teams from each group advancing to Stage 2 - the knockout phase.

In the women's event, Yashaswini Ghorpade, 61st in the table tennis rankings, struggled to pose much resistance against world No. 86 Sally Moyland, going down 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-7).

World No. 48 and Olympian Manika Batra then drew India level with a 3-1 (11-2, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4) win against Jessica Reyes Lai.

However, Diya Chitale and Manika Batra lost the next two matches, bringing India’s campaign to a close.

Diya Chitale, world No. 95, went down 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 13-11) to Lily Zhang, while Manika Batra, despite taking the opening game, lost 3-1 (10-12, 11-9, 11-3, 13-11) to Sally Moyland.

Earlier in the competition, the Indian women had topped Stage 1b Group 6 with wins over Ukraine, Uganda and Rwanda and qualified for Stage 2.

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