New Delhi, June 23: A four-member team, comprising Soumyajit Ghosh, Devesh Karia, Ankita Das and Mouma Das, left to Kobe in the wee hours today to participate in the GAC Group World Tour Japan Open starting at the southern city of the island nation from  tomorrow. The team is accompanied by coach Vijaysarathy Seshadri from Chennai.

The four-member were chosen to represent India on the basis of their national raking-both Ghosh and Mouma are the reigning national champions-to help them prepare further on the international stage. The Japan Open attracts top paddlers from the Asian region apart from Central Asia and a few travel all the way from Europe, too, in the tournament which runs through up to June 28 .

The same team, after completing their task at Kobe, will fly directly to Seoul for the World Tour Korean Open event to be held at Incheon from July 1 to July 5. The twin tour is expected to give the players the much-needed exposure for the forthcoming events, including the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships to be held at Surat (Gujarat) later this year.