Asian Table Tennis Team Championships in Bhubaneswar from Saturday

Bhubaneswar, Oct 10 (PTI) The 28th IITF–ATTU Asian Table Tennis Team Championships will be held at the Athletics Centre of Kalinga Stadium here from October 11-15.

The event is being jointly organised by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU), Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), Odisha Table Tennis Association and the Odisha government's sports department.

This marks the first-ever hosting of the tournament in Odisha, and notably, the event returns to India after a gap of 16 years.

Nearly 500 participants, including players and support staff from 22 countries — India, China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Bangladesh, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uzbekistan — are taking part in the championship.

Both men and women teams will compete for top honours.

The top-performing teams from this championship will qualify for the ITTF World Table Tennis Team Championships 2026 to be held in London, informed Odisha's sports minister Suryabanshi Suraj during a press conference.

He further stated that several top-ranked international players will be showcasing their talent in this championship.

From India, Sreeja Akula, Manika Batra, Diya Chitale, Yashaswini Ghorpade, Swastika Ghosh (women's category) and Ankur Bhattacharya, Payas Jain, Manush Shah, Snehit Suravajjula, Manav Thakkar (men's category) will represent the country.

Athletes from various nations have already arrived in Bhubaneswar and started their practice sessions. PTI AH SSC SSC