WTT Grand Smash Singapore 2022: India’s Manika Batra crashes out from singles
G Sathiyan was the only Indian table tennis player to progress to the second round in singles. Sharath Kamal and Ayhika Mukherjee lost in the opening round.
Indian table tennis player Manika Batra was ousted from the women’s singles event at the WTT Grand Smash Singapore 2022, after a 3-1 loss to Canada’s Mo Zhang at the Singapore Sports Hub on Saturday.
Manika Batra, the world No. 46, lost to Zhang, placed two places above the Indian in the rankings, 14-12, 10-12, 11-13, 8-11 in the round of 64 of the women’s singles.
Batra’s fellow Indian compatriot Ayhika Mukherjee, who made it to the main draw of the WTT Grand Smash Singapore 2022 through the qualifiers, also crashed out after losing her round of 64 match 3-0 (11-3, 11-9, 11-8) to Chinese Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu, the current world No. 29. Ayhika is ranked 126th.
In men’s singles, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran defeated Singapore’s world No. 140 Pang Yew En Koen 3-1 (11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8) and progressed to the round of 32.
G Sathiyan will face South Korea’s Lim Jonghoon, one half of the doubles silver medallists from last year’s world championships, in the next round. Jonghhoon beat China’s Lin Gaoyuan, the world No. 8, in his opening round match.
Sharath Kamal, making his return after undergoing a surgery, meanwhile, couldn’t make any inroads in the tournament. The Olympian lost to Swedish player Anton Kallberg 3-1 (11-6, 7-11, 6-11, 8-11).
The day’s results mean Sathiyan is the only Indian still alive in the singles competitions at the Singapore meet.
Indian players, however, will be competing in the doubles, with Manika Batra, Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan all involved. Doubles matches start tomorrow.