Manika Batra and G Sathiyan make history, enter top-10 in mixed doubles world rankings
A file image of G Sathiyan.
|(Twitter)
The ace table tennis tandem of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran made history by becoming the highest-ranked Indian Mixed Doubles pair at World No. 10 in the freshly announced ITTF World Rankings. The duo became the first Indian pair to reach World No. 10 in the mixed doubles.
Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran are a force to be reckoned with in their respective game styles, and they are India's top prospects in the Mixed Doubles event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Batra and Gnanasekaran won the bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, defeating the experienced pair of Sharath Kamal and Mouma Das.
The duo had a successful year in 2021, winning the WTT Contender Budapest, reaching the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Tunis, and reaching the quarter-finals of the ITTF World Championships.
Individually, Manika Batra is ranked No. 50 in the world, while Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is ranked No. 32.
According to rumours, Batra and Gnanasekaran have been practising in Chennai for a brief time ahead of the full-fledged 2022 table tennis season, which starts in March. In March, the newly inducted World No. 10 duo will compete in a series of WTT events, spanning Muscat, Singapore, and Doha, in what promises to be a jam-packed month.
