Manika Batra, Sutirtha Mukherjee find their way to Tokyo 2020

The singles event of women’s table tennis at the Tokyo Olympics will see India’s Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee compete for glory later this year.

This after the Indian duo ensured maximum participation following their run at the ongoing Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament in Doha, Qatar on Thursday.

While Sutirtha Mukherjee beat the higher-ranked Manika Batra 4-2 in the one-off match for a place at the Tokyo Games, Batra — the Commonwealth Games gold medallist — will go through as the highest-ranked second-placed player at the Doha event.

Knowing nothing less than a win would help her to realise her Olympic dream, the 25-year-old Sutirtha Mukherjee was up for the task at the Lusail Sports Arena. But it was Manika Batra who started well and took the opening game 11-7.

The Kolkata-based Sutirtha Mukherjee stormed back to take the following two games and eke ahead in the tie. While the fourth saw Sutirtha concede the game 11-4, she regrouped in time to pocket the following two games in a dominant manner to seal her place at the Summer Games.

Sutirtha Mukherjee beat Manika Batra 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5, 11-4 to win the tie.

Earlier, Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan too secured their places at the Tokyo Games with fine performances at the Asian qualifiers.

With the singles berth sealed, the Indian contingent will not shift focus to the mixed doubles where Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra are still in with a chance of making the Olympic grade.

The Indian duo beat the local pair of Mohammed Abdul Wahhab and Maha Faramarzi 4-0 in the quarter-finals on Thursday and will hope to secure the only berth available at the Asian qualifiers.

Lead image: UTT Media