Manav Thakkar Stretches World No. 4, Manika Batra disappoints at Worlds
Manav Thakkar put up a spirited fight against world number four Harimoto Tomokazu before going down in the round of 64 while Manika Batra produced an ordinary showing against lower-ranked Park Gahyeon to exit the World Table Tennis Championships on Tuesday. Thakkar, ranked 48th, matched his more accomplished Japanese opponent stroke for stroke in the third and fifth game before going down 11-13, 3-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 3-11. Though he lost, Thakkar would be pleased with his performance, having outlasted Harimoto in a number of long rallies through the match. In the women's singles, 46th ranked Manika looked out of sorts against world number 130 Park from South Korea. To Park's credit, she comfortably tackled the long pimpled rubber that Manika uses on the backhand.
What contributed to Manika's downfall was a series of unforced errors from her forehand.
The Indian lost 8-11, 7-11, 5-11, 8-11.
A little later, 88th ranked Diya Chitale could not match the class of Chen I Ching from Chinese Taipei, losing 3-7, 7-11, 6-11, 11-6, 5-11.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
I would like to build a team culture where everyone is secure and happy: Shubman Gill
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel London: Someone who never dreamt of leading the national cricket team, India's new Test skipper Shubman Gill has set himself the goal of creating a team culture where every player is "secure and happy."A transitional India will search for their maiden Test series victory in England since 2007, and the first match is scheduled to take place at Leeds on June 20."It was like, not even in my dreams, I thought I wanted to be the captain of the Indian cricket team. So, apart from all the silverware and trophies aside, I really would like to build a team culture where everyone is very secure and happy," Gill told Gill knew that the task was easier said than done."I know it can be a very difficult environment, especially with all the competition and the number of matches that we play, different squads coming in. But if I'm able to do that, I think that would be my goal," he added."So, keeping a secure environment and making the player feel secure in his abilities and his capabilities I feel is one of the most important things that a leader has to do."Gill acknowledged that Rohit Sharma , who retired from Test cricket on May 7, had laid out a clear path for him."It can seem like he is not aggressive, but Rohit is very aggressive in terms of his tactics. He is someone who is very clear with his communication prior to the matches, during the series and even after the series, what he wants from the players."Gill said he wanted to follow the path of his predecessor Rohit, who had always put the team ahead of individuals."The kind of environment Rohit bhai kept, even if Rohit bhai is swearing at you, you would not take it to your heart. That's just kind of his personality. I think that's a great trait to have."He's firm, but even if he's being hard on you, you know that it's not coming from his heart. It's coming from a team perspective," added 25-year-old said he had a conversation with Rohit on the road ahead for the team."This is a conversation that I've had with Rohit bhai a couple of times that ideally in the next 5, 7 or 10 or 15 years, where would we want the Indian cricket team culture to be?"Gill also said he learned so much from the "proactive" leadership of Virat Kohli."When I played under Virat, I think his proactiveness in Test matches with the field or with the ideas or with his thinking was something that I liked and that I picked up. If he thinks that, okay, this plan is not working, he would immediately have another plan, communicate to the bowler what he wants from them," he also provided a gist of his conversation with head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar before taking up the leadership role."They just want me to be able to express myself as a leader. I mean, that's what they have told me, there are no expectations. They are not expecting me to, you know, to do something that I'm not capable of."But you definitely have some kind of expectations from yourself as a leader and as a player. So those are the expectations that I have from myself," he also revealed that he hid all the captaincy talk even from his father, his biggest source of support in his career."I don't even think he (father) dreamt of me being the Indian Test captain, like even myself as well. All I remember when I was young, all my dreams were to play for India and win matches."So yeah, he called me when the news broke out, I think a couple of days before. But I knew sometime before (the news flashed), but I didn't tell him because I wanted to tell him when it's official. But we had a very heartfelt conversation once he got to know that I've been named the captain," he already has a taste of Gambhir's style of coaching from his days at the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, but he was confident of adjusting to him in the national environment."Gautam bhai is very determined, very committed. And he's also very clear with his communication, what he wants from the players and what kind of mindset that he would want the players to have."Gautam bhai focuses more on the kind of attitude or the mindset that he requires from the team or the players."Gill's crisis management ability will be put to test when he will have to decide on the workload of premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah Chief selector Agarkar had already made it clear that it's highly unlikely that India will have the services of Bumrah throughout the series."It's more based on match to match and see how much workload there has been on him. That's what we are trying to look at. You need to see how much workload he had in this particular match."We don't want to have a predetermined mindset. Okay, these are the matches that he would want to play because there are so many factors that can not go in your favour in determining whether he is going to play the next match or not," he said he has not decided upon any plan to counter England's 'Bazball' method of cricket in the series."I don't want to have a preconceived notion of how I would want to go about things. There might be a case, you know, they can come out playing aggressive cricket and can lose a few wickets," he said.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Kabaddi meet underway
1 2 3 4 Ranchi: The State Under-18 boys and girls kabaddi competition was inaugurated at RPF Barracks Sports Ground, Bokaro, by ARM Vineet Kumar, who emphasised vast career potential in sports. A total of 639 players from 22 districts are competing. Dignitaries including Santosh Kumar and Gopal Thakur encouraged the participants. A two-minute silence honoured recent tragedies of plain crash in Ahmedabad. Meanwhile, the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) celebrated MS Dhoni's induction into the ICC Hall of Fame 2025 with a special ceremony. Held on the eve of the WTC final, the event honoured Dhoni's legendary 14-year career and global impact. JSCA president Ajay Nath Shahdeo, vice-president Sanjay Pandey, and others attended, applauding Dhoni's historic achievements and his role in elevating Indian cricket to new heights.
India.com
an hour ago
- India.com
He Is Fully Ready To...: Kuldeep Yadav Opens Up On Shubman Gills Captaincy Ahead Of 1st Test
Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav believes Shubman Gill is completely prepared to captain the Indian Test team on their five-match Test tour of England, starting in Leeds on June 20. The series against England is Gill's first assignment as India's Test captain after his predecessor Rohit Sharma retired from the format last month. The Test series in England will be India's first challenge in the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. 'As you have seen, Shubman knows how to lead the team. He has worked under a lot of seniors as well. From the last couple of years, he has been in a lot of discussions with Rohit - not only in ODIs, but also in Tests. I am sure he has learnt a lot.' 'As a leader, from what I have seen, he is very motivated. The way he thinks is very important. He has helped the team a lot. In the last 3-4 sessions, I have seen the quality of the leadership group and I have seen that in Shubman as well. He is fully ready to lead the team,' said Kuldeep to reporters on the sidelines of day three of intra-squad practice game in Beckenham. Without going into specific details of the intra-squad game, Kuldeep said the batters have fared well so far. 'The top order have done very good batting, if we talk about both the teams. I feel that seamers have also bowled very well.' 'If you talk about fast bowlers in both the teams, I feel that Shardul has bowled very well in the first innings. In the second innings, the senior fast bowlers have bowled very well. Overall, the performance in the squad has been very good.' This will be India's first series after retirements of Rohit and Virat Kohli, and Kuldeep admitted the side will feel their void when the matches happen from June 20 to August 4. 'When there are no seniors, you always feel their absence. The players like Virat and Rohit, who have done so much for the team. Their importance will always be felt.' 'It is an opportunity for the youngsters to perform well. They have a chance to settle in the team, and that is very important. I am sure everyone is feeling their absence in the team. But the youngsters look very excited.' 'They consider the conditions to be challenging for the battle, and are ready for it. As you can see in the practice session, the batsmen are preparing, taking a lot of time in batting and doing well in preparation.' '100% it is a challenging series. We have got a very good team as well. Obviously, we have new faces. Everyone is very excited to start this first Test in Headingley. We are very looking forward to it,' concluded Kuldeep.
