Exclusion of Ayhika Mukherjee from Team India for WTTTC 2026 London

[Srinithiya]

What is your opinion

[CS Dhar]

Most countries always find a way to exclude pips / anti players unless they are are so high in ranking that they cannot be excluded like Manika Batra , Sreeja Akula & Yashaswini Ghorpade here.
If you remember German player Amelie Solja left Germany to play for Austria . Amelie was a slim pips player then (before the frictionless pips ban of 2008) . But her sister Patricia Solja was accepted into German team as she was a double spinny inverted player

Actually the best India team would have been to include both Ayhika Mukherjee & Sutirtha Mukherjee but that could never happen because India already has a reputation as a team fielding too many pips / anti players. It is the optic that TTFI is concerned about. TTFI would rather have all 5 double inverted women just like the men's team

It is a joke that Ayhika is not on the team , not withstanding beating World #1 Sun Yingsha at last WTTTC 2024. She is a proven giant killer & also different style than the trio of Manika , Sreeja & Yashaswini .
India will most likely advance to final 16 but if they advance as 2nd in group , they have no chance . It is game over.

I am not saying they should have played her until India reaches knockout stage even if she was included . The trio of Manika , Sreeja & Yashaswini would be the best choice but there will probably be pressure on India coach to play Diya Chitale instead of Yashaswini or even Sreeja. though Yashaswini is the hottest Indian player right now. But in knockouts it is possible they could play Ayhika depending on matchups.

Diya Chitale is a strong player but in the knockouts stage it would be a joke to play her . I will be shocked if she can beat much higher ranked double inverted players. If this was for individual WITTC , I can see her being included to reward higher rating than Ayhika (though just 1 rank) but in team events it is crazy to choose a double inverted player over Ayhika . Same goes for Sydrela Das

[Raula E]

Pips / anti players should used to the idea of accepting the fact that they are 2nd class citizens without complaining.
Nobody is stopping them from starting their own separate federation & seeking Olympic entry to replace ITTF.
Afterall in Indonesia this happened in iTTF

[Srinithiya]

Looks like there was lot of politics in India team selection

I went back & looked at the ranking lists from January thru April of 2026.
Ayhika Mukherjee and Diya Chitale were ranked almost the same on the average

Also Syndrela Das was ranked way below
Looks like TTFI uses some weird averaging of rankings from Domestic & international rankings.

All this far less unimportant in team events.

Yes what I read in another thread is true is true .
A third level Indian 2 winged looper like Dia has zero chance against a host of 2nd level European 2 wing loopers and 1st level Far East Asian (China , Japan & Korea) 2 wing loopers

Based on that I would say it is outrageous that Ayhika was overlooked in favor if Dia & Syndrela

Also I was puzzled as to how & why Sutirtha Mukherjee replaced Sreeja Akula
Sutirtha is definitely more valuable than any 2 winged loopers and it is sort of very close as to who should have replaced Sreeja
Yes Sutirtha is amazing at this high level . But I would say Ayhika has a slight edge.

[Raula E]

Despite the success of second wave of pips players like Yashaswini Ghorpade & Divyanshi Bhowmick , the pips hatred lives on
TTFI will continue to keep India men's team pure & virtuous & Godly without a single dirty pips player