Qualification Kicks Off at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Table Tennis in West Monroe

WEST MONROE, La. – On a sunny spring morning in West Monroe, the nation’s best table tennis athletes gathered at West Monroe Sports & Events to kick off the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Table Tennis. 

The four-day event marked the first ever Olympic Trials event held in West Monroe. Scott Bruscato, vice president of Discover Monroe-West Monroe, shared that the West Monroe community is excited about hosting such a prestigious event. 

“It’s an opportunity for us to showcase our newest sports facility to the world and to crown a champion who will qualify to the U.S. Olympic Team this summer right here in our community,” Bruscato said.

West Monroe Sports & Events welcomed 39 athletes (23 men and 16 women) competing for the opportunity to represent Team USA at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The top two women will directly qualify to Paris 2024. The top two men will continue their qualification journey in May at the ITTF Americas Olympic Qualifier in Lima, Peru. 

Qualifying play began Thursday morning for Stage 1 matches in the men’s singles event. As expected, the highest ranked 12 players moved forward to Stage 2 for Friday’s competition. In Stage 2, the top 16 players will now compete for eight spots in Stage 3. 

The 16 players qualified to Stage 2 for men’s singles are:

1. Kanak Jha
2. Nikhil Kumar
3. Jishan Liang
4. Sid Naresh
5. Nandan Naresh
6. Kai Zhang
7. Xiang Jing Zhang
8. Ved Sheth
9. Dan Liu
10. Andrew Cao
11. Darryl Tsao
12. Zaman Molla
13. Nishant Lebaka
14. Aryan Jha
15. Hasan Saidov
16. Ludovic Gombos

Play continues Friday at 10 a.m. with Stage 2 round robin matches. The final eight players will play in Stage 3 on Saturday and Sunday.