WTT Contender | Manika Batra Batra and G Sathiyan in mixed doubles semis
Manika Batra, the top-ranked female table tennis player in India, defeated Joo Cheonhui 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-7) on Thursday to advance to the singles quarterfinals of the WTT Contender. Meanwhile, she also moved into the quarters of the women's singles event, after a win over her Korean opponent.
Ranked 36 in the world, Manika defeated her 129th-ranked Korean opponent with ease in just 24 minutes, according to the ITTF rankings. Manika will now compete on Friday night for a spot in the semifinals against another Korean, Choi Hyojoo, who is rated 53rd in the world.
Second seeds Manika and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran defeated Spanish opponents Maria Xiao and Alvaro Robles to advance to the mixed doubles semifinals on Thursday morning.
The Indian team needed just 24 minutes to secure a convincing 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-5) victory and set up a matchup with Korea's Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin in the quarterfinals, which will take place later on Thursday. The Indian team had previously defeated the same combination at the WTT Star Contender ESS 2022 but had fallen to them on home soil at the WTT Star Contender Doha 2022.
Kuai Man and Lin Shidong of China will compete against Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong in the other semifinal.
The highest-seeded pair still in contention for the championship is the Indian pair, which placed second at the 2022 WTT Doha Contender, which was played in January of last year. Jia Nan Yuan and Emmanuel Lebesson of France, the tournament's top seeds in the mixed doubles division, were shockingly defeated on the opening day.
On Thursday night's men's singles Round of 16 matches, China's Peng Xiang defeated experienced paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal 2-11, 1-11, 4-11. In the Round of 32 encounters on Wednesday, Lubomir Pistej of Slovakia, who is rated 92 places lower than Sathiyan, handed him a shocking 1-3 loss.