Mixed draw for Indians in the World TT Championships

New Delhi: India were handed tricky draws in both the men`s and women`s competition of the World Table

Tennis Championships to be held in Moscow from May 23 to 30. 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. Indian team, which will includes world number 70 Achanta Sharath Kamal, are expected to have it easy against Canada (36th), Argentina (37th), Israel (43rd) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (46th) in other group matches. Their female counterparts, currently world number 34, may face some problems to overcome 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. The draw, held at the plush Petrovsky Palace in Moscow yesterday, decided the groupings for Championship Division, second division, where India will be playing, and the third division of the prestigious tournament. A 21-member Indian team is currently undergoing a 25-day special training camp at the National Centre for Table Tennis in Zhengding, China and the squad for the World Championships will be finalised soon. National coach Massimo Constantini of Italy and SAI chief coach for TT Bhawani Mukherjee have accompanied the paddlers in the training camp to China. They will also accompany the Indian squad during the World Championships. PTI