“It is a historic moment” - Table tennis player Harmeet Desai on India’s Paris Olympics 2024 qualification
The Indian men’s and women’s table tennis teams secured their spot in the Paris 2024 Olympics for the first time since the team events were inducted to the games’ in Beijing 2008.
Notably, Team India couldn’t make it to the quadrennial event through the World Table Tennis Team Championships held in Busan in February 2024 after finishing in the pre-quarter-finals. However, they clinched the spot through their world rankings window.
Harmeet Desai, the Surat paddler, termed the team’s qualification as a ‘historic moment’. He felt that the team received favorable results in the past two years, which helped the side to improve their rankings and gain confidence.
India clinched the gold medal at the CWG 2022 as Harmeet won the doubles and singles and made it to the semi-final in 2023 in the Asian Championships in South Korea with a bronze medal finish.
"It is a historic moment and definitely a very happy day for the entire Indian table tennis fraternity," Harmeet told The Bridge.
"A lot of recent performances helped us to get this ranking where we are today like a gold medal in CWG 2022, a bronze medal in the 2023 Asian Championships. That helped us to get a lot more confident that we will be able to make it this time if we all can perform well at the same time," he added.
Team India were close to qualifying in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics
The country’s highest-ranked men’s single player at 64th spot emphasized and thanked the stakeholders of the game for their 'behind the scenes' contributions in achieving this feat.
"There is a lot of people's hard work and commitment to make it happen like the government, federation, sponsors, coaches, support staff, players, and all the people who work behind the scenes," he stated.
Harmeet has also stated that India's qualification for the Olympics will have a lasting impact on Indian table tennis.
"I think it will be a big boost for Indian TT in terms of confidence, belief, popularity, sponsors and much more. Like I said earlier, this is just a beginning for Indian TT," he went on to add.
The Indian men's team benefited from their recent good shows and was ranked 15th at the time of qualification, while the women were better placed at 13th. Only the top 16 teams each in men's and women's categories are eligible to play in the Paris Olympics.
Importantly, the Indian men’s side made an exceptional turnaround in recent times and was ranked 15th at the time of qualification while the women’s team was at the 13th spot.
Harmeet stated that the team was very close to qualifying in the previous two Olympics and the side is determined to come out all guns blazing in this Summer Olympics.
"We were very close to qualify in 2016 and 2020 olympics to qualify as a team. The team was stronger and we were more determined this time to make it as a team,” Harmeet emphasized.