Manika Batra in the round of 16

Indian table tennis players Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee advanced to the round of 16 in women’s singles WTT Star Contender Goa 2023 In Panjim on Thursday.

Playing at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, both Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee defeated higher ranked opponents in their Round of 32 matches.

Manika Batra, India’s Best Female Table tennis player ranked 34 in the world, beat the Puerto Rican star and world No. 14 Adriana Diaz 3-1 (11-9,11-8,5-11,11-8). On Friday, Manika Batra will face China’s Qian Tianyi, ranked 20th in the world, in the pre-quarterfinals.

I have played him (Qian Tianyi) before and I have some strategies against him. I will play my best game on Friday for my country and myself, Manika Batra said after the match.

World No. 146 Sutirtha Mukherjee, on the other hand, knocked out World No. 18 Jia Nan Yuan of France 3-0 (11-7,11-8,11-7). Sutirtha Mukherjee will face world number 19 Fu Yu of Portugal in the next round.

In women’s doubles, Manika Batra and Archana Kamath lost their quarterfinal match against Chinese Taipei’s Cheng-I Ching and Li Yu-Jhun. They won the first game, but the pair from Chinese Taipei came back to win the match 3-1 (11-8, 15-13,11-9,11-7).

India’s challenge in the women’s doubles came to an end later in the day when Sweden’s Linda Bergstrom and Christina Kallberg ousted Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee by respective margins of 3-1 (11-7,13-11,6-11,11-7).

In the men’s doubles quarterfinals, South Korea’s Lim Jonghoon and Jang Woojin beat Indians Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar 3-1 (12-10,11-8,7-11,11-6).

India’s mixed doubles pair of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran also made it to the quarterfinals, falling in straight games to Japan’s Miwa Harimoto and Shunsuke Togami. The Indian duo lost 3-0 (12-10,11-6,11-6).

WTT Star Contender Goa 2023 ends on 5th March.