Star Contender Goa: Manika, Sutirtha enter the quarterfinals after pulling off an upset
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Panaji (Uttam Hindu News): Indian paddlers Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee pulled off upsets in their respective events to finish in the top-16 at the WTT Star Contenders Goa on Thursday.
Manika defeated Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico 3-1 (11-9,11-8,5-11,11-8) in the second leg of the World Table Tennis (WTT) tournament held at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium. Sutirtha defeated France’s Jia Nan Yuan 3-0 (11-7,11-8,11-7).
Manika will take on Qian Tianyi of China in the pre-quarterfinals. Sutirtha will take on veteran Fu Yu of Portugal.
India’s top paddler Manika after defeating World No. 14 Adriana said, “I am really happy that I got the win against Adriana Diaz today. Let’s see what happens in the next round. I have played him before and will have a few strategies against him. I will just try my best and play my best for my country and myself.”
Sutirtha, who beat world No. 18 Yuan with impeccable timing, said after the match, “I feel great because I managed to beat a top 20 player. Tomorrow I will play against Yu Fu and I hope to win there as well. I had faced Yuan before and won the match by a close margin. This time I didn’t think much about ranking. I just focused on playing freely and that got me this win.
Meanwhile, Chinese Taipei’s Cheng-Ei Ching and Li Yu-Jhun beat India’s Manika and Archana Kamat 3-1 (8-11, 15-13, 11-9, 11-7) in the women’s doubles quarterfinals. . Sweden’s Linda Bergstrom and Kristina Calberg then defeated Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee 3-1 (11-7, 13-11, 6-11, 11-7) to end India’s campaign in women’s doubles.
The Indian men’s doubles pair of Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar lost 1-3 (10-12, 8-11, 11-7, 6-11) to Korea’s Lim Jonghoon and Jang Woojin in the quarterfinals, while in the mixed doubles, Manika and Sathyan Gnanasekaran went down 0-3 (10-12, 6-11, 6-11) to the Japanese pair of Miwa Harimoto and Shunsuke.
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