Indian men 35th

NEW DELHI, May 5: The Indian men would have finished higher if only our best bet Chetan Baboor had been fit. The National champion injure...

NEW DELHI, May 5: “The Indian men would have finished higher if only our best bet Chetan Baboor had been fit. The National champion injured his hand in the game against Finland and could not participate in later matches,” said the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) secretary Mool Chand Chowhan, who returned here this morning from Manchester (England) where the 44th World Table Tennis Championships is being held.

The Indian men finished 35 among 116 countries. That, however, is a drop of two places from the last edition in Tianjin (China) .

Indian men had begun well by topping their group in beating all their opponents. It was then that they lost the services of Baboor.

Story continues below this ad

As for the Indian women, they finished 42nd, the same position they had obtained in Tianjin.

Chowhan, however, was elated at the mention of India’s performance in the Commonwealth Championships in Glasgow where the men finished runners-up to the strong England team in the team events and Chetan Baboor and S Raman gave the country its first-ever gold medal in the 26-year history of the championships.

“A silver in team events, gold in men’s doubles and a bronze in mixed doubles (S Raman and B Bhuvaneswari) was something we had not expected when we left the shores for the twin championships,” Chowhan said, adding, “There was no limit to our joy when the National Anthem was played for the first time in the championships.”