WTT Contender Doha: Manika-Sathiyan enter semifinals; reaches World Number 7

The Indian table tennis mixed doubles pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra have made their way into the semifinals of the ongoing WTT Contender Doha. The duo defeated Sweden's Christina Kallberg and Kristian Karlsson 3-1 to make their way into the final four.

Sathiyan and Manika started well, pocketing the first game 11-7 without breaking a sweat. But, the Swedish pair soon hit back to pocket a hard-fought second game 11-9 after overcoming a massive 4 point deficit.

Just when it looked like as if the Indians were put off their rhythm, they bounced back with their best to win the next two games 11-9 and 11-8 respectively to ensure a medal for themselves.

This win also propelled Manika and Sathiyan to the best ever world ranking by an Indian mixed doubles pair. The duo is now ranked number 7 in the world with a jump of three positions.

On the other hand, the women's doubles duo of Manika Batra and Archana Kamath went down 0-3 without a fight to Huang Hi-Hua and Chen Szu-Yu of Chinese Taipei.