Muscat, Oman, (Samajweekly) Indian paddler Manika Batra advanced to the women’s singles quarter-finals while Archana Kamath and Manav Thakkar reached the mixed doubles final at the 2022 WTT Contender Muscat, here on Thursday.
Batra upset Romania’s Bernadette Szocs 3-0 (11-3, 13-11, 11-8) in the round of 16 of women’s singles. She will next face China’s Kuai Man.
On the other hand, Archana Kamath lost in the same stage of the women’s singles event following a 0-3 (11-9, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9) loss to Tokyo Olympian Xiaoxin Yang of Monaco. However, Kamath had a good run in mixed doubles with partner Manav Thakkar. They beat Brazil’s Vitor Ishiy and Bruna Takahashi 3-2 (11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 13-11, 11-8) in the quarter-finals before getting the better of Hungary’s Nandor Ecseki and Leila Imre in the semi-final.
Ecseki and Imre, who had knocked out India’s top-rated pair of G Sathiyan and Manika Batra in the quarters, lost 0-3 (11-9, 11-7, 11-5) against Kamath and Thakkar, an olympics.com report said.
Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles, Tokyo Olympian Sutirtha Mukherjee and partner Ayhika Mukherjee received a walkover against the Czech Republic team of Zdena Blaskova and Katerina Tomanovska in the quarter-finals.
In the semis, the Mukherjees will be up against fellow Indians Sreeja Akula and Selena Selvakumar, who accounted for Singaporean duo Goi Rui Xuan and Wong Xin Ru 3-1 (13-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-7) in the quarters. In men’s doubles, though, India’s campaign ended with a loss to Chinese Taipei’s Peng Wang-Wei and Chuang Chih-Yuan in the quarter-finals.
The results on Thursday guaranteed India at least three medals at the Muscat meet – a gold or silver in mixed doubles and a bronze and at least a silver in women’s doubles. Notably, losing semi-finalists at WTT meets get bronze medals.
Manika can add to the tally if she progresses in singles.
