Indian table tennis players, Manika Batra and Manav Thakkar, had a tough start in the ITTF World Cup 2026 as they both lost their opening group matches. Manika Batra, ranked 47th globally, was defeated 3-0 by Japan’s Miwa Harimoto in the women’s singles Group 4, while Manav Thakkar, an Asian Games medallist, lost 3-0 to Park Gang-hyeon of South Korea.
In the upcoming matches, Manika Batra is set to play against Olympian Lily Zhang from the USA, ranked 42nd, while Manav Thakkar faces a challenging game against world No. 2 and Olympic silver medallist Truls Moregardh of Sweden. The tournament has introduced a best-of-five games format for Stage 1 group matches, a change from previous editions, with 48 players divided into 16 groups of three.
Sreeja Akula, ranked 44th globally, will kick off her campaign against Olympic gold medallist and world No. 2 Wang Manyu from China. Notably, no Indian table tennis player has ever secured a medal at the ITTF World Cup, with previous attempts by Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula in the 2025 edition ending at the group stage.
The competition, running from March 30 to April 5, features the world’s top table tennis players vying for a USD 1 million prize pool. This year marks the centenary of the sport, with the World Cup holding special significance as table tennis commemorates 100 years since the ITTF’s establishment in 1926.
