China withdraws from ITTF World Championships in Doha, ironically cites COVID-19 as reason

The sport of Table Tennis is back after a year-long absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The start of the 2021 season got underway with ITTF World Championships Doha where some of the top paddlers are currently competing to win the first title of the season. However, the tournament will not have any paddlers from China after the team decided to withdraw from the tournament due to COVID-19 concern.

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China withdraws from ITTF World Championships Doha

According to the IITF website, Qin Zhijian, Secretary-General of the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) has said that the country will not be able to send table tennis players to play outside of China until the Olympics 2021 Games due to the ongoing pandemic situation worldwide. The withdrawal of the Chinese team means men's world number two Xu Xin and women's world number two Sun Yingsha will not be in action during the tournament.

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The WTT will make its debut this year. It is replacing the International Table Tennis Federation’s World Tour. The matches will now be a best-of-five games affair, with the exception of the singles semi-finals and finals, which will be best-of-seven each. The WTT Contender event is scheduled to be held in the Qatari capital from March 3 to 6, followed by the WTT Star Contender tournament from March 8 to 13.

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Manika Batra, G Sathiyan lead India at ITTF World Championships Doha

Despite the absence of Chinese stars at the Doha event,  the tournament will not be short of any star power as the  Indian table tennis contingent is in the country to take part in the tournament. National champion Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and senior paddler  Achanta Sharath Kamal have been given direct entry to the main draw of the men’s singles. The duo will also play the men’s doubles event together.

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G Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal will hope to make the most out of this tournament before playing the World Singles Olympics 2021 qualifiers and the Asian Olympics 2021 qualifiers in the middle of March. Three other Indians – Harmeet Desai, Anthony Amalraj and Mudit Dani – will take part in the qualifiers of the men’s singles and will look to make it to the main draw.

In the Women's section, Manika Batra will lead the charge. Batra will be aiming for a place in the main draw of the women’s singles through the qualifiers route. Apart from the singles competition, Batra could feature alongside Sutirtha in the women's doubles main draw if four teams pull out. Manika Batra has also teamed up with Achanta Sharath Kamal for the mixed doubles while Sutirtha Mukherjee will play with G Sathiyan. Both mixed doubles pairs are yet to be confirmed for the main draw.

Image: ITTF World / Twitter