Just like badminton, table tennis was also another sport to be axed from the list of disciplines of the upcoming 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
Despite this exclusion, Indian table tennis ticked off a number of firsts this year, with a couple of international stars calling time on their illustrious careers.
Here are some of the highlights from table tennis in 2024:
January
– Sreeja Akula, one of the most improved players amongst India’s women paddlers this year, clinched her maiden international title after she won the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi by beating America’s Lily Zhang in straight games.
February
– While Indian women did go down fighting against China in the first group stage match in the ITTF World Team Championships, there were a few silver linings. Ayhika Mukherjee beat the then World Number 1 Sun Yinghsa while Sreeja beat the World Number 2 in Wang Yidi.
March
– In a first, the Indian men’s and women’s teams qualified for the Olympics, the first time Indian teams have qualified for the Olympics. Despite the teams losing in the pre-quarterfinals at the World Team Championships, their world rankings helped book the tickets to Paris.
May
– Italy’s Massimo Costantini returned to India as the foreign head coach of the national team for a third stint. The 66-year-old was the Indian team’s coach on two previous occasions, from 2009 to 2010 and from 2016 to 2018.
Massimo Costantini, foreign coach of the Indian table tennis team, during training at Sports Authority of India, NS Southern Centre Bangalore (SAI), inside Jnanabharathi Campus, off Mysuru road, in Bengaluru.
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MURALI KUMAR K
Massimo Costantini, foreign coach of the Indian table tennis team, during training at Sports Authority of India, NS Southern Centre Bangalore (SAI), inside Jnanabharathi Campus, off Mysuru road, in Bengaluru.
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MURALI KUMAR K
June
– Sreeja continued having a great 2024 after she became the first Indian player to win a WTT Contender singles title after she beat China’s Ding Yijie in Lagos.
July
– In his fifth and final Olympics, Sharath Kamal was announced as one of India’s flag-bearers during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
– North Korea won its first Olympic medal in eight years after it had to settle for silver in the mixed doubles event in Paris. Moreover, a selfie at the medal ceremony on the podium went viral after the South Korea’s Lim Jong-Hoon too a group picture with the other players. South Korea had won bronze.
Silver medalist Jonghoon Lim of Team Republic of Korea takes a selfie with gold medalists Chuqin Wang and Yingsha Sun of Team Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and bronze medalist Jong Sik Ri and Kum Yong Kim of Team Democratic People’s Republic of Korea after the Table Tennis Mixed Doubles on day four of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at South Paris Arena on July 30, 2024 in Paris, France.
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Silver medalist Jonghoon Lim of Team Republic of Korea takes a selfie with gold medalists Chuqin Wang and Yingsha Sun of Team Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and bronze medalist Jong Sik Ri and Kum Yong Kim of Team Democratic People’s Republic of Korea after the Table Tennis Mixed Doubles on day four of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at South Paris Arena on July 30, 2024 in Paris, France.
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August
– Two players in Bruna Alexandre from Brazil and Melissa Tapper from Australia participated in both the Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
– German legend and four-time Olympic medallist Timo Boll called time on his international career after the German team fell to a 0-3 defeat to Sweden in the quarterfinals of the men’s event.
– With six gold medals in his kitty, China’s Ma Long bid farewell to the Olympics after he helped his team clinch to the top spot on the podium in the men’s event by beating Sweden in the final.
Long Ma of Team People’s Republic of China competes in Match 1 against Anton Kallberg and Kristian Karlsson of Team Sweden (not pictured) during the Table Tennis Men’s Team Gold Medal match between Team People’s Republic of China and Team Sweden on day fourteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at South Paris Arena on August 09, 2024 in Paris, France.
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Long Ma of Team People’s Republic of China competes in Match 1 against Anton Kallberg and Kristian Karlsson of Team Sweden (not pictured) during the Table Tennis Men’s Team Gold Medal match between Team People’s Republic of China and Team Sweden on day fourteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at South Paris Arena on August 09, 2024 in Paris, France.
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– Archana Kamath, who was part of India’s Paris Olympics squad, quit table tennis after she announced her decision to pursue higher education post the Games.
September
– Sharath Kamal was named the first Indian ambassador of the ITTF Foundation on the sidelines of the fifth edition of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) in Chennai.
– Goa Challengers became the first team to win back-to-back UTT titles after it beat Dabang Delhi in the final of the fifth season.
October
– It was a historic ATTU Asian Championships for the Indian paddlers. Apart from the men’s team clinching bronze for a third-straight time, the women’s team and the women’s doubles pair of Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee won the country its first-ever bronze medals in the categories.
December
– In the inaugural edition of the Waldner Cup, Team Asia – comprising India’s Manika Batra and captained by China’s Ma Long, amongst others – beat Team World to win the title.
