Table Tennis
WTT Contender Muscat: Manika, Sreeja, Ayhika advance to 2nd round
In men’s doubles, Manush and Manav, and Payas Jain and Mudit Dani reached the quarterfinals.
Manush Shah reached the pre-quarterfinals in men's singles and quarterfinals in men's doubles events at the WTT Contender Muscat on January 14, 2025. (Photo credit: PTI)
Young paddler Manush Shah delivered stellar performances and secured his spot in the men's singles Round of 16 and men's doubles quarterfinals at the WTT Contender Muscat in Muscat, Oman on Tuesday.
He became the only Indian to advance to the Round of 16 in men's singles.
Manush, a qualifier, defeated world no. 39 Maharu Yoshimura of Japan in the Round of 32 in straight games (11-8, 11-7, 13-11).
Earlier, the Indians defeated Koen Pang of Singapore in the qualification round.
He will now face World No. 30 Sora Matsushima in the round of 16.
However, it was the end of the road for Harmeet Desai, and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manav Thakkar.
While Harmeet lost to Wong Chung Ting 5-11, 6-11, 7-11, Sathiyan was ousted by World No. 26 Hiroto Shinozuka of Japan 11-8, 11-3, 8-11. Manav, on the other hand, went down to Huang Youzheng of China 11-8, 3-11, 6-11, 9-11.
In women’s singles, Manikta Batra overcame an opening-game loss to beat compatriot Diya Chitale 3-2 (8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6) in the first round.
Manika will face World No. 65 Yuxuan Qin of China in the Round of 16 on Wednesday.
Also progressing to the next round were Sreeja Akula and Ayhika Mukherjee.
While, Sreeja got past Natalia Bajor (3-2) 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 12-10, Ayhika got better of World No. 57 Zhu Chengzhu 6-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-8 in 30 minutes.
Sreeja will now take on Sakura Yokoi in the next round, while Ayhika will face off against Satsuki Odo.
Manush-Manav, Payas-Mudit advance to quarterfinals
In men’s doubles, two Indian pairings advanced to the quarterfinals, with Manush and Manav, and Payas Jain and Mudit Dani winning their Round of 16 matches.
Manush and Manav will face Hung Jing-Kai and Chang Yu-An in the next round. Payas and Mudit, on the other hand, will go up against Matsushima and Marimoto.
In women’s doubles, no Indian pair could break the first-round hurdle, with Asian Games and Asian Championships bronze medallists Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee going down to qualifiers Kong Tsz Lam and Lee Hoi Man 14-16, 11-7, 10-12, 5-11.
Sreeja and Diya conceded their opening-game lead against Australia’s Yangzi Liu and Minhyung Jee to lose 12-10, 6-11, 8-11, 11-13.
In mixed doubles, however, Harmeet, pairing up with Yashaswini Ghorpade, defeated Flavien Coton and Charlotte Lutz. Sathiyan and Sreeja bowed out with a loss against Adina Diaconu and Andrei Istrate.
