The India men’s and women’s teams on Monday qualified for the Olympics for the first time ever based on their world rankings.

After the conclusion of the World Team Championships Finals in Busan last month, which served as the last qualifying event for the Paris Olympics, seven spots in the team events remained, which have been awarded to sides based on their rankings.

According to the rules, the highest-ranked teams, which hadn’t qualified directly through any of the qualifying tournaments held before, obtained quotas to Paris 2024 through the rankings route.

“The highest-ranked teams not yet qualified in the latest World Team Ranking booked their ticket to Paris 2024,” ITTF said.

In the women’s event, India, ranked 13, Poland (12), Sweden (15), and Thailand have secured their passage to Paris.

While Croatia (12), India (15), and Slovenia (11) have secured their spots in the men’s team event.

“Finally!!!! India qualifies for the team event at the Olympics! Something I have wanted for a long long time! This one is truly special, despite it being my fifth appearance at the Olympics! Kudos to our Women’s Team who also secure a historical quota!” Sharath Kamal tweeted.

This marks a significant milestone in Indian table tennis history, as it will be the first time the nation competes in the team event at the Olympics since its inception at the Beijing 2008 Games.

Both India teams had missed Olympic berths at the ITTF World Team Championships Finals after making pre-quarter finals exits.

The men’s table tennis team, led by veteran Sharath were blanked 0-3 by South Korea, while the Manika Batra-led women’s team lost 1-3 to Chinese Taipei.

At the Tokyo Olympics, India sent a four-member table tennis contingent that included Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Manika Batra.

However, they competed in singles and mixed doubles events only.