India, June 18 -- Manika Batra, the 2018 Asian Games medallist and India's most decorated female paddler, was left out of India's 2026 Asian Games squad and named as a reserve by the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) on Thursday.

TTFI's selection committee named a 10-member squad of five men and five women, "selecting players primarily based on world and national rankings," as per a TTFI statement. Although Manika is ranked 51st in the world and is India's No. 2 in women's singles, her absence from the national circuit - and thus the national rankings - meant she lost the selectors' votes.

Had Manika been in the top 50, she would have been an automatic pick. World No.45 Sreeja Akula is in the squad despite being 27th in the latest...