WTT Contender Doha: Manika Batra-G Sathiyan in mixed doubles final
The Indians defeated Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem, the world No. 4 pair, 3-2 in the semi-finals.
India’s top table tennis pair in mixed doubles, Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, stormed into the final of the WTT Contender Doha 2022 at the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha on Tuesday.
The Indian duo, ranked world No. 7, defeated the world No. 4 pair of Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong 3-2 (13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8) in the semi-finals.
Earlier in the day, Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran defeated the Swedish pair of Christina Kallberg and Kristian Karlsson 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8) in the quarter-finals.
Manika Batra-Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will play the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists and world No. 1 duo of Cheng I-Ching and Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei in their first WTT Contender final this year.
The Indian pair had a good 2021 season in mixed doubles which included the title win at the WTT Contender Budapest and silver at WTT Contender Tunis.
In the women’s doubles, Manika Batra and Archana Kamath, who won the WTT Contender in Lasko last year, went down to Chen Szu-Yu and Huang Yi-Hua in the quarter-finals.
The Indian pair, ranked sixth in the world, lost to their opponents from Chinese Taipei 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-6).
Later in the day, Sharath Kamal, ranked 41st, defeated world No. 59 Lim Jonghoon of South Korea 3-1 in the round of 16. The Indian will face Croatia's Tomislav Pucar, ranked 33, in the quarter-finals.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, world No. 37, crashed out after a loss to lower-ranked Yuan Licen of China in the first round of men’s singles. In the women’s singles, Manika Batra, world No. 46, also lost in the first round.