Rising Indian paddler Sreeja Akula claimed the women's singles title, while Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah took home the men's doubles title at the WTT Feeder Beirut II in Lebanon on Sunday, March 24, 2024. (More Table Tennis News)
Sreeja, ranked 47 in the world, came from behind to pull off a 6-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9 win over the lower-ranked Sarah D Nutte of Luxembourg at the Al Kawthar Secondary School. The Commonwealth Games mixed doubles gold medallist had beaten top seed world no 36 Suh Hyo Won of South Korea earlier.
It is the 25-year-old's second WTT singles career title. She had clinched the Feeder Corpus Christi title in January this year. Sreeja unfortunately couldn't make it twin triumphs as she lost in the women's doubles final. Sreeja and Diya Chitale went down 4-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 to Hong Kong's Doo Hoi Kem and Zhu Chengzhu.
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The men's doubles summit meeting was an all-Indian affair, and saw Manav and Manush prevailing over compatriots Mudit Dani and Akash Pal 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6.
In mixed doubles, Poymantee Baisya and Akash Pal stunned the accomplished duo of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 11-0 to win their maiden title.
Sathiyan, who had won his first-ever men's singles WTT crown in Beirut last week, saw his 10-match unbeaten streak end as he was vanquished in the men's singles semifinal by world No. 43 Kirill Gerassimenko of Kazakhstan. Gerassimenko defeated the 103-ranked Sathiyan in straight games 11-9, 13-11, 11-9.
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(With PTI inputs)
