India's long wait for a medal continues at the World Table Tennis Championships

The probability of winning a medal at the ongoing Table Tennis World Championships was extremely high considering the number of Indian paddlers taking part. The initial round of 128 proved to be a disaster as 6 singles paddlers crashed out in the singles event. By the next few rounds, there was no Indian left to compete in the singles event. The doubles category however was a ray of hope as Batra/Archana and Batra/Sathiyan exceeded all expectations in the early stages of the matchups.

It was a day of hope for Batra given that she lost out in the 2017 women's doubles event in the quarterfinals. This time, she had two shots at glory in two different events and it seemed as though the ace paddler would have her way this time.

The first match with Sathiyan in the mixed doubles event did not go as expected. The Indian pair lost to Hayata and Harimoto of Japan by a set score of 3-1. Despite losing the first set, they made a comeback in the third set before going down by an agonizing score of 11-9 to seal their exit. Batra and Archana Kamath had a similar exit as they lost 11-1, 11-6, 11-8 in straight sets to Sarah Nutte and Ni Xialing of Luxembourg.

This effectively ended any hope of India claiming a medal at the World Championships and continued an unwanted streak. The performances were promising but it seemed as though it just wasn't India's time for glory this year-round. The wait continues with the hope that the quarter-final jinx will be broken at the next World Championships.