Manika Batra
India’s star table tennis player Manika Batra entered the second round of the World Championship with a direct game in Doha on May 18, while Manav Thakkar also made a full debut with his singles campaign. 22nd seed Manika won a stunning victory against 4–0 (11–5, 11–6, 11-8, 11-2) on Nigeria’s Fatima Bello in the Women’s Singles match. The match lasted for only 24 minutes. In the final 64 rounds, Korea’s Park Gahione will be challenged in front of him.
India’s top seed Mains singles player Thakkar also made a brilliant start to defeated Timothy Choi of New Zealand 4-1 (11-3, 11-8, 6–11, 11-7, 14-12) in the first round. However, the journey of 18 -year -old Ankur Bhattacharjee ended in the early stages. He lost 1-4 (11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 10-12, 8-11) in Men’s singles.
In the doubles match, the pair of ninth seed Manush Shah and Dia Chitale registered a unilateral victory over Algeria’s Mehdi Bowlosa and Malisa Nasri 3–0 (11–2, 11–7, 11-6). The pair of Mains Doubles of Harmeet Desai and G Sathiyan, however, lost 1-3 (9–11, 12-10, 14-16, 10-12) to Meldislav Ursu, Moldova, Austria.
Desai also suffered defeat in mixed doubles with Yashaswini Ghorpade. The 14th seeded Indian pair failed to take advantage of the 2–0 lead against France’s Thibault Paren and Leena Hachart. The Indian pair also lost three matches points to 2-3 (11-8, 11-6, 10–12, 8–11, 10-12).
(PTI Inputs)