Sathiyan-Manika enters QF; seal World C’s berth

Indian table tennis mixed doubles pair Sathiyan Gnanasekaran/Manika Batra and men’s doubles pair Harmeet Desai/Manush Shah advanced to the quarterfinals of the Asian WTTC continental stage in Doha on Monday.

Sathiyan and Manika beat the Japanese pair 4-1 to reach the top eight, while Desai and Shah beat the Iranian pair by the same margin to advance in the competition.

With this win, both Sathiyan/Manika and Harmeet/Manush have booked their places in the World Championships which are scheduled to be held in March later this year.

“Great win today against the Japanese pair in the Asian mixed doubles here in Doha to secure our place in the ITTF World Championship 2023 finals in Durban in May 2023,” Sathiyan tweeted after the win.

On the other hand, the men’s doubles pair of Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal came agonizingly close to causing an upset over China’s Ma Long and Yuan Licen, but fell 3-4 after leading the contest 3-1.

Commonwealth Games gold medalist duo Sreeja Akula and Sharath Kamal were no match for the Hong Kong pair as they lost their quarter-final match 0-4.

Akula and Reeth Tennison in the women’s doubles also lost 0-4 in the round of 16 against the South Korean pair.