New Delhi: In absence of Olympian and India number one Achanta Sharath Kamal, woman national champion Kumaresan Shamini will spearhead the Indian challenge in the 11th South Asian Games to be held in Dhaka from January 29-February 8.
Besides Shamini, the women's team consists of Pooja Sahasrabudhe, Madhurika Patkar and Divya Deshpande.
Ankita Das, who was scheduled to be included into the SAF Games squad, is injured and a replacement for her would be named, chief SAI coach for table tennis Bhawani Mukherjee told PTI.
Olympian Neha Aggarwal and two former national champions Poulomi Ghatak and her doubles partner Mouma Das, who are struggling with form, are the prominent absentees from the team.
The men's team include Jubin Kumar, A Amal Raj, Soumyajit Roy, Sanil Shetty and Aman Balgu.
Sharath, who is currently world number 73, will miss the SAF Games due to his club commitment in Spanish League.
Mukherjee was confident of an Indian sweep once the Indians start their campaign on February 5.
"I am happy with the our preparation and hopeful of clinching all the seven gold medals in the tournament. Besides we should bag four-five silvers also," Mukherjee said.
Mukherjee and national coach Massimo Constantini of Italy will accompany the Indian squad during the tournament.
The team will leave for Dhaka on January 3.
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