Table Tennis
WTT Singapore Smash: Indian challenge in singles ends as Manika Batra loses
The Indian singles campaign at the WTT Singapore Smash 2023 came to an early halt as all three of Manika, Sathiyan, and Sharath lost in the first round.
Only Manika Batra managed to win a match against Chinese Taipei in the pre-quarterfinals of the World Table Tennis Team Championships on February 21 in Busan. (Source: Getty)
The Indian singles campaign at the WTT Singapore Smash 2023 came to an early halt, as all three of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra, exited the tournament in the Round of 64 itself.
While Sathiyan and Sharath went down 2-3 and 0-3 respectively on Saturday, Batra followed the suit with a 2-3 loss against Sweden's Linda Bergstorm earlier today.
Batra fought hard to win the first game 12-10 and take a lead in the contest, but the Swedish paddler hit back in the next two games to inch ahead with a 2-1 lead.
The Indian fought back to win the fourth game 11-8 and then pushed Bergstorm to the hilt in the decider before losing it 11-13 and suffering a first round exit from the tournament.
Earlier on Saturday, Sharath Kamal had lost to a 16-year-old Izaac Quek 4-11, 6-11, 10-12 in a shock upset. Quek is ranked 242nd in the world compared to the Indian's 51st.
On the other hand, India's top-ranked men's player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran went down 2-3 after taking a 2-1 lead to world number 17 Jang Woojin of South Korea.
The WTT Singapore Smash is one of the four Grand Smash tournaments held in a season. The Grand Smashes are the highest level tournaments in table tennis with all the top players from across the world competing.
