WTTC Asian Continental | Sathiyan/Manika and Harmeet/Manush enter quarters, seal spot for World Championships
(Twitter)
The Indian mixed doubles pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran/Manika Batra and the men's doubles team of Harmeet Desai/Manush Shah made it to the quarterfinals of the Asian WTTC Continental Stage in Doha. Sathiyan and Manika beat a Japanese team to enter the last eight of the competition.
On the other hand, Desai and Shah got the better of the Iranian pair 4-1. These victories by the Indian teams mean that they have made it to the World Championships to be held in March this year. "Great win against Japanese pair today in Mixed Doubles in Asian qualification here in Doha to seal our place for the ITTF World TT Championships Finals 2023 scheduled in Durban in May 2023," Sathiyan tweeted after the win.
In fact, another men's doubles pair of Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal came agonizingly close, to cause an upset win over China's Ma Long and Yuan Licen but went down 3-4. Interestingly, the Indian pair led the match 3-1 at one point. The CWG 2022 mixed doubles champions Sharath and Sreeja Akula lost 0-4 against Hong Kong.
Akula, along with Reeth Tennison lost in women's double pre-quarters too, against a pair from South Korea.
Great win against Japanese pair today in Mixed Doubles in Asian qualification here in Doha to seal our place for the ITTF World TT Championships Finals 2023 scheduled in Durban in May 2023 💪💪@manikabatra_TT #sathiyantt #tabletennis #sports #mixeddoubles #wttc2023 pic.twitter.com/buljeFQiJS
— Sathiyan Gnanasekaran OLY (@sathiyantt) January 9, 2023
