19-05-2025
- Sport
- United News of India
Manika, Manav in second round at World TT Championships
Doha, May 18 (UNI) Former Commonwealth Games champion Manika Batra breezed into the second round of the women's singles event at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals 2025 here on Sunday.
World No. 46 Manika outclassed Nigeria's Fatimo Bello, ranked 89th, in straight games 4-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2) in her opening round match. The Indian ace will next face Park Gahyeon, the 17-year-old prodigy from the Republic of Korea.
In men's singles, India's top-ranked player Manav Thakkar (world No. 49) also made a strong start, defeating New Zealand's Timothy Choi 4-1 (11-3, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12) to progress to the round of 64.
However, teenager Ankur Bhattacharjee suffered an early exit. The 18-year-old went down 1-4 (11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 10-12, 8-11) to Hong Kong China's Lam Siu Hang, ranked 129th.
In mixed doubles, Manush Shah and Diya Chitale, the WTT Contender Tunis champions, eased past Algeria's Mehdi Bouloussa and Malissa Nasri with a 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-6) victory to advance to the second round.
Meanwhile, in men's doubles, the experienced pair of Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran fell short against Austria's Maciej Kolodziejczyk and Moldova's Vladislav Ursu, losing 1-3 (9-11, 12-10, 14-16, 10-12) in a closely-fought encounter.
Desai's mixed doubles campaign also ended in disappointment. Partnering Yashaswini Ghorpade, the Indian duo let slip a 2-0 lead and three match points to lose 2-3 (11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 8-11, 10-12) against France's Thibault Poret and Leana Hochart.
Later in the day, Poret will face Sathiyan in the men's singles round of 128, while Yashaswini is set to meet France's Jia Nan Yuan in the women's singles draw.
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