Know full schedule and Indian squad

The Asian Cup 2025 table tennis tournament will start at the Universiade Sports Center in Shenzhen, the People’s Republic of China, from Wednesday.

This will be the 34th edition of the ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup. The tournament consists of competitions in both men’s and women’s singles categories. Each event will feature 32 players.

All four semi-finalists in both the men's and women's singles events will also qualify for the ITTF World Cup 2025, which is slated to take place in April later this year.

The Indian men’s contingent at the Asia Cup 2025 will be led by world No. 42 Sharath Kamal - a five-time Olympian and the reigning Commonwealth Games men’s singles champion.

World No. 60 Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai, 70th in the rankings, are the other two male Indian table tennis players competing in the continental tournament.

The Indian women’s squad will be without star player Manika Batra, who will miss the Asian Cup after picking up an injury. Yashaswini Ghorpade has been announced as her replacement.

Paris 2024 Olympian Sreeja Akula and Ayhika Mukherjee are the other two members of India’s table tennis squad in the women’s events.

In the absence of Batra, world No. 29 Sreeja Akula is the highest-ranked Indian woman player in the tournament. Ayhika Mukherjee is ranked 77th while Yashaswini Ghorpade is five spots below at 82nd.

Three-time Olympian Chetan Baboor won a silver and a bronze medal in the 1997 and 2000 Asian Cups, respectively while Batra won a bronze at the previous edition of the tournament held in Bangkok in 2022.

Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto won the previous edition of the Asian Cup in the men’s section while China’s Wang Yidi is the defending champion in the women’s bracket.

The Asian Cup 2025 table tennis tournament will conclude on Sunday.

The tournament format for both men’s and women’s singles are the same. The players will be divided into eight groups of four each for Stage 1 of the competition and the top two from each group will advance to the Stage 2, which will be played in a knockout format.

Indian table tennis squad at Asian Cup 2025

Men : Sharath Kamal, Manav Thakkar, Harmeet Desai

: Sharath Kamal, Manav Thakkar, Harmeet Desai Women: Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee, Yashaswini Ghorpade

Asian Cup 2025 table tennis schedule and live India start times

As per Indian Standard Time (IST)

February 19, Wednesday

Women’s Singles, Stage 1 Round 1 matches - 8:30 AM onwards

Men’s Singles, Stage 1 Round 1 matches - 8:30 AM onwards

February 20, Thursday

Women’s Singles, Stage 1 Round 2 matches - 8:30 AM onwards

Men’s Singles, Stage 1 Round 2 matches - 8:30 AM onwards

February 21, Friday

Women’s Singles, Stage 1 Round 3 matches - 8:30 AM onwards

Men’s Singles, Stage 1 Round 3 matches - 8:30 AM onwards

February 22, Saturday

Men’s Singles, Stage 2 Round of 16 matches - 8:30 AM onwards

Women’s Singles, Stage 2 Round of 16 matches - 8:30 AM onwards

Men’s Singles, Stage 2 Quarter-finals - 3:30 PM onwards

Women’s Singles, Stage 2 Quarter-finals - 3:30 PM onwards

February 23, Sunday

Click here to read article