Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship 2026: Matches start from today in New Delhi, India will defend the title

New Delhi. The Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship 2026 will start from Monday at Thyagaraj Stadium in the capital Delhi. The prestigious tournament will run till August 2, with players from more than 25 countries expected to participate.

This time India will enter with the intention of maintaining its excellent record. Earlier in the championship held in Cuttack in 2019, the Indian team had created history by winning all seven gold medals. India became the third country to do so. Earlier, Hong Kong (1983) and England (1971, 1973 and 1975) had achieved this feat.

Interestingly, this championship is being held at a time when the 2026 Commonwealth Games are also going on in Glasgow. However, this time table tennis has not been included in the sports program of the Commonwealth Games.

Four Olympians included in the Indian team

Four Olympians have got a place in the Indian team for the championship. These include Shreeja Akula, G. Sathiyan, Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai. Apart from these, Manush Shah is also a part of the Indian team, who along with Manav Thakkar is among the top players in the world in the ITTF men’s doubles rankings.

Keep an eye on these players

Among Indian men’s singles players, Manav Thakkar is the highest ranked Indian player in the world rankings at 38th. Whereas Manush Shah is two places behind him at number 40. Harmeet Desai, on the other hand, will be defending his title as the current men’s singles champion.

Once again a strong performance is being expected from the Indian team on home soil.

Also read: ICC T20 Rankings: After victory over Zimbabwe, India again became number-1, overtook England; Ishan Kishan top batsman