Manika Batra and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan claim gold medal in WTT Contender, in Budapest
Gnanasekaran Sathiyan is the 37th ranked player in the world
|UTT
Manika Batra and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan claimed the gold medal in the WTT Contender tournament, in Budapeset, with a win over the Hungarian pair of Dora Madarasz and Nandor Ecseki. However, Manika lost her semi-final clash to Elizabet Abraamian in the semi-final of the women’s singles event.
Having made an early exit at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, India’s ace paddler Gnansekaran Sathiyan made amends within a month by claiming a gold medal in the mixed doubles event alongside Manika Batra in the WTT Contender tournament, in Budapest. The Indian duo had the better of Hungarian pair of Dora Madarasz and Nandor Ecseki, with scores of 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-6 to bag top honours.
Earlier, Manika Batra lost her semi-final clash in the women’s singles event to Russia’s Elizabet Abraamian in straight sets - 12-10, 11-9, 12-10, 10-8. In spite of resistance from the Indian, the 18-year old reigning European U-19 Champion managed to see through in each of the four games. Indians featuring in the men's singles and men's doubles categories have already been eliminated earlier in the tournament.
Following the successful campaign, Gnansekaran Sathiyan will now feature in the Czech Open next week, while Manika will return to back home and prepare for the Asian Championships in September-October.
