Goa, Feb 7 Table Tennis legend and reigning Olympic champion Ma Long and current women's Olympic champion Chen Meng will be among a galaxy of the world's top paddlers, to descend in India for the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Goa, scheduled from February 2 to March 5.
The tournament will be played at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium is being hosted by Stupa Analytics as well as the Government of Goa. The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) will also be the supporting partner of the tournament.
The WTT Star Contender Goa is the highest level of Table Tennis event ever to be witnessed in India where the biggest global superstars of the sport will be seen in action.
Widely regarded as the best in the world, the 34-year-old Ma, who is a two-time Olympic champion will have his compatriot World No 1 Fan Zhendong, current world champion, to feature in the men's singles, where Indian legend Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnansekaran will also be putting up a challenge.
Among other leading lights of the men's game, world number four Tomakazu Harimoto of Japan and World No. 6 Truls Moregard of Sweden, world No. 8 Lin Yun-Ju from Chinese Taipei and Darko Jorgic from Slovenia will also be seen in action.
In the women's section, besides Chen, her countrywoman and top-ranked Sun Yingsha has also confirmed participation along with world number five Hina Hayata and Kasumi Ishikawa from Japan, Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, and Ying Han from Germany.
Also trying to give them a run for their money on home turf will be the India's No.1 and world number 34, Manika Batra.
Expressing her views on the mega event in India, Manika said: "Playing my first World Table Tennis event in Goa is going to be a great experience. It is always a great honour to play in front of a home crowd, and I can't wait to hear them cheering us all on. We hope to make them proud."
Leading the charge in the men's singles for India will be world-ranked 41 Sathiyan, who won the men's singles bronze in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year and was also a part of India's gold medal-winning men's team event, along with a silver in the men's doubles event category.
"I am excited to be playing my first WTT Series event in India. The field is incredibly strong, so all the matches are going to be tough. I hope as many fans as possible will come and support us in Goa," Sathiyan said.
Accompanying Sathiyan will be the legendary and evergreen Sharath, gold medallist in the men's singles, mixed doubles and men's team events at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 Birmingham and currently ranked 47 in the world, will add more stealth and power to the Indian challenge.
Some other Indian names like Sreeja Akula, who is the reigning national women's singles and doubles champion, will be competing in the qualifiers with other Indian paddlers viz; Reeth Teenison, Diya Chitale, Swastika Ghosh, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty and many more, will try and grab a spot in the main draw of the competition.
Along with the global and Indian superstars, the tournament will also see many top international players competing for the first time in India.
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