Manika Batra has reached the quarterfinals in the mixed and women’s doubles events at the World Table Tennis Championships, putting India just one win away from a historic medal. (Other Sports News)
Manika and Archana Kamath defeated Hungary’s Dora Madarasz and Georgina Pota 11-4, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7 in the women's doubles round of 16 in Houston on Friday.
They face Luxembourg’s Sarah de Nutte and Xia Lian Ni for a place in the semifinals. Bronze medals will be awarded to all the losing semifinalists in the competition.
In the mixed doubles, Manika and G Sathiyan scripted a valiant comeback against the USA-China combine of Kanak Jha and Wang Manyu after losing the first two games to reach the quarterfinals.
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The Indian pair won 15-17, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7. They will meet Japan’s Harimoto Tomokazu and Hayata Hina in the quarterfinals. “It has been an amazing tournament. It was a superb comeback against a strong pair. We both combined extremely well. Looking forward to keep up the momentum.
“It is certainly going to be tough against the top Japanese pair but we will give our everything,” Sathiyan, the world No. 37 in singles, told PTI.
However, the mixed doubles pairing of Sharath Kamal and Archana lost their round of 16 match to France’s Jia Nan Yuan and Emmanuel Lebesson.
