2021 UTT Lasko Contender | Anthony Amalraj, Manav Thakkar one win away from qualification to main draw
Indian Table Tennis stars Antony Amalraj and Manav Thakkar are just one win away from qualifying for the main draw of the men’s singles event at the 2021 UTT Contender Lasko. Meanwhile, Sreeja Akula and Krittwika Roy are also placed in a similar situation after Day 2 of the ongoing competition.
2018 Commonwealth Games medallist, Anthony Amalraj had the better of Moldova’s Andrei Putuntica 3-2 (8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8) in the third qualifying round of the 2021 WTT Contender Lasko. Meanwhile, former junior world no. 1 Manav Thakkar defeated Iran’s Amin Ahmadian and Yuma Tanigaki of Japan by identical 3-1 margins to make the cut to the fourth round of qualifiers.
Amalraj will be up against Belarus’ Pavel Platonov, while Manav Thakkar will lock horns with Portugal’s Joao Geraldo in the next round, with a confirming a spot in the main draw for either of the players.
In the women’s singles event, Sreeja Akula edged past Russian Table Tennis Federation’s Valeria Kotcyur 3-2 (7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-13, 11-8) , while Krittwika Roy cruised past Klara Hrabicova 3-1 (12-14, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8) in their respective fixtures.Â
Sreeja will lock horns with Egypt’s Hana Goda, while Krittwika Roy will be up against Katerina Tomanovska of Czech Republic respectively for a berth in the main draw.
In spite of the positive results, Olympian Soumyajit Ghosh lost 2-3 (9-11, 11-5, 11-13, 11-7, 11-13) to Brazil’s Eric Jouti in the second round of men’s singles qualifiers, while Selena Selvakumar was also outclassed 2-3 (8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 11-13) by Hana Goda in the women’s singles event. Meanwhile, Snehit Suravajjula defeated Austria’s Lionel Weber 3-0 in the second qualifying round, but lost 0-3 to Steffen Mengel in the following round.
Top stars Achanta Sharath Kamal, Gnanasekaran Sathiyan and Manika Batra will begin their respective campaigns from the main draw itself.