Sharath, Poulomi is Indian team for World C`ship TT

New Delhi: Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal and reigning women`s national champion Poulomi Ghatak will lead

the Indian challenge in the World Table Tennis Team Championships to be held in Moscow from May 23-30. Besides world number 70 Sharath, the five-member Indian men`s team comprises former national champion Subhajit Saha, Sourav Chakraborty, Soumyadeep Roy and A Amal Raj. Meanwhile, the experienced Poulomi and her doubles partner Mouma Das will be the mainstay of the Indian women`s team. Former India number one Kumaresan Shamini, Madhurika Patkar and Divya Deshpande are the other members of the women`s team. "Members of both the teams are in fine touch. We have got a mixed draw in the tournament and are expecting some good performances in Moscow," Bhawani Mukherjee, Chief SAI coach for table tennis, said. Indians will be playing in the second division of the prestigious event. The men`s team, which is currently 29th in world ranking, will face some stiff competition from world number 27 Belgium, while all the other sides in the Group H of Division II are lower ranked. They are Canada (36th), Argentina (37th), Israel (43rd) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (46th). Their female counterparts, currently world number 34, may face some problems in overcoming Turkey (22nd) and Malaysia (31st), but they will have easy opponents in Israel (39th), Denmark (41st) and Portugal (50th) in the Group E of Division II. National coach Massimo Constantini of Italy and Mukherjee will accompany the Indian paddlers in the tournament. Teams: Men: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Subhajit Saha, Soumyadeep Roy, Sourav Chakraborty, A Amal Raj. Women: Poulomi Ghatak, Mouma Das, Kumaresan Shamini, Divya Deshpande, Madhurika Patkar. Coaches: Massimo Constantini, Bhawani Mukherjee. PTI