Manika Batra-Archana Kamath the only surviving Indians at WTT Singapore Smash

The Indian women's doubles duo of Manika Batra and Archana Kamath are the only paddlers from the country surviving at the ongoing WTT Singapore Grand Smash 2022. The world number six pair has reached the quarterfinals of the event with a hard-fought 3-2 win over locals Goi Rui Xuan and Wong Xin Ru.

Batra and Kamath started off well against the Singaporeans, pocketing the first game comfortably at 11-7. However, Xuan and Ru, playing at their home turf, soon hit back to draw level by winning the second game 11-9. The contest continued to swing both ways as the Indians won the third game 11-9, before surrendering the fourth 7-11 to take the match into a decider.

Just when it looked as if the match will go down the wire, Manika Batra and Archana Kamath came out with their best display to win the final game 11-5 and advanced to the quarterfinals.

On the other hand, India's mixed doubles duo of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran surrendered 0-3 to Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-Ju and Cheng I-Ching in the quarterfinals, while the men's doubles pair of Sathiyan and Achanta Sharath Kamal went down by the same scoreline to the pair from South Korea in the pre-quarters.

The only surviving Indian in the singles section, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, too had to exit after falling to a 1-3 defeat against South Korea's Lim Jonghoon in the round of 32.