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Sharath Kamal, Neha Aggarwal qualify for Olympics
March 07, 2008 18:12 IST

Indian paddlers Achanta Sharath Kamal and Neha Aggarwal have qualified for the Beijing Olympics' table tennis competition.

Both made the grade via the men's and women's singles quota places from the South Asian region during the ongoing Olympic qualifying tournament for the Asian zone in Hong Kong, according to a Table Tennis Federation of India statement on Friday.

The top seven in the qualifying competition and the best finisher from the five regions (East, South-East, West, South Central) in both men's and women's categories make it to Beijing.

Sharath Kamal and Neha failed to advance beyond Stage II of the qualifying tournament but emerged best in the regional play-offs in the men's and women's categories respectively.

Kamal finished second in Stage I of the qualifying competition and in Stage II won two matches and lost two.

The Commonwealth Games' gold medallist made it to the Chinese capital by emerging the best finisher among South Asian competitors.

In the women's section, Delhi girl Neha upstaged her more fancied compatriots Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das to book a ticket to Beijing.

The three Indians played among themselves for a quota from the South Asian region but ended up on equal points. Neha qualified on the basis of winning more games in the play-offs.

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