2024 might be the watershed year in Indian Table Tennis history as both the Indian Men’s & Women’s table tennis teams secured historic Olympic Qualifications.
India will field a full contingent with 6/6 athletes for the Olympics for the first time ever and with new stars like Sreeja Akula,Ayhika Mukherjee and quality youngsters like Manav Thakkar,Manush Shah,Yashashwini Ghorpade emerging into the scene, it seems like Indian Table Tennis is finally set to take off to newer heights after years of slow & lacklustre growth.
But wait there’s more! One of the most difficult and impressive feat in the World of Table Tennis is to beat Chinese players.Indian Womens paddlers this year has just about managed to pull off this feat not once, not twice but thrice in a row! China is the most dominant nation in Table Tennis,even the word Dominant is an understatement.
Such has been their dominance over the sport that they have bagged 32 out of the 37 Olympic Gold medals till date.
Chinese players occupy all of the top 4 positions in the ITTF singles World rankings,with their players routinely clean sweeping titles in World championships,grand smashes and world cups.
So Indian paddlers managing to beat the players of a nation with such unwavering dominance in Table Tennis is a hugely Impressive and consequential feat.
And they haven’t just beaten any random chinese players,they have taken down the top ones in the ladder,who are literally the best in the world.
MANIKA BATRA BEATS WORLD NO 2 WANG MANYU
The latest one the list of Upsets involves Manika Batra who finally got the better of Wang Manyu after 5 straight defeats at the Saudi Grand Smash.
World no 2 Wang Manyu is a part of the fearsome Chinese quartret and had been in red hot form this year claiming the Singapore Smash title and runners up at the ITTF world cup in April. 
Manika lost the first game ,but staged a supeb comeback to take the next two games. In the 4th game Manika went from an 8-5 lead at one point of time to trail 8-10,but showed great nerves to stage a comeback and win the game as well as the match. In Manika’s own words This is the biggest win of her career and the emotional outburst post victory was a testimony to that.
AYHIKA MUKHERJEE STUNS WORLD NO 1 SUN YINGSHA
The morning of February 16th was made unforgettable when Ayhika Mukherjee stunned World No 1 Sun Yingsha with a 3-1 victory in the 1st group stage match at the ITTF Team World Championships. Ayhika,then World No 155 punched way above her weight to hand Sun Yingsha her first ever loss in a team event.
The Indian’s pimpled rubber on her forehand caused immense problems for Yingsha and Ayhika kept attacking with confidence to pull off a huge upset. Yinghsa and Team China were literally left bamboozled with this defeat. But This wasn’t the end, what followed up next was another Shocker.
SREEJA AKULA TAKES DOWN WORLD NO 2 WANG YIDI
With China left rattled moments ago by the defeat of Sun Yingsha,they suffered another big setback with Wang Yidi falling to Sreeja Akula in just the next game. Sreeja did the unthinkable beating Yidi convincingly without dropping a game.
Her strong and accurate forehand attacks coupled with the pimpled rubber on the backhand completely shut down Yidi’s attacks. China might have ultimately won the tie but the 2 huge upsets in the first 2 games sent shockwaves around the world and made everyone notice. It was the greatest day for Indian Table Tennis as described by TTFI general secretary Kamlesh Mehta and surely it was. This win elevated India’s status as a low tier team to a nation who could no longer be taken lightly.
The triumphs of Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, and Ayhika Mukherjee reflects the rising prowess of Indian Table tennis on the global stage.Their ability to challenge and defeat top-ranked players demonstrates how far Indian Table Tennis has come in all these years.
Their brilliance has broken barriers proving that even the formidable chinese players can be beaten.This will surely inspire confidence among the newer generation of players who could usher in a new era in Indian Table Tennis.
