Table Tennis
WTT Singapore Smash: Manika/Sathiyan exit in mixed doubles quarterfinal
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra crashed out of the WTT Singapore Smash mixed doubles event with a quarterfinal defeat.
Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran missed the Paris Olympics Quota in Mixed Doubles
The Indian table tennis mixed doubles pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra, on Tuesday, crashed out of the WTT Singapore Smash mixed doubles event with a quarterfinal defeat.
They lost 2-3 to the Japanese pair of Hina Hayata and Tomokazu Harimoto.
Seeded fifth in the tournament, it seemed as if Gnanasekaran and Batra are in line for a tame surrender in the contest as they lost the first two games with an identical score line of 9-11.
What followed was a brilliant fightback from the experienced Indian paddlers as they asserted their domination to win the next two sets 11-8, 11-5 respectively and forced Hayata and Harimoto to a decider.
Manika and Sathiyan, however, faltered and looked a pale shadow of themselves as they went down 7-11 to crash out in the quarterfinals of the tournament against the thrid seeds.
With this loss, India's campaign in the WTT Singapore Smash came to a close with no medals. Earlier, all three off Batra, Gnanasekaran, and Achanta Sharath Kamal had lost in the very first round of their respective singles matches.
