In a stunning punch-above-weight victory, India's star paddler Manika Batra defeated world number 2 Wang Manyu of China to advance to the round of 16 at the Saudi Smash in Jeddah on Monday (May 6, 2024). Batra prevailed over Wang 3-1 (6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 12-10) in 37 minutes, and will next face Germany’s Nina Mittelham for a spot in the quarter-finals. (More Sports News)
Batra, who was upstaged by Sreeja Akula as the top-ranked Indian women's singles table tennis player (Sreeja at number 38, Batra 39), put up a strong show to upset the fancied Chinese. She had earlier notched up a 3-0 (11-6, 13-11, 11-8) victory over Romania’s Andreea Dragoman on Saturday.
Meanwhile, there was another encouraging result from an Indian perspective at the event. The mixed doubles pair of Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade vanquished the fifth-seeded Spanish duo of Alvaro Robles and Maria Xiao 3-2 (11-5, 5-11, 3-11, 11-7,11-7) to enter the quarter-finals. Harmeet and Yashaswini had beaten Chile’s Nicolas Burgos and Paulina Vega 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5) in their first-round match.
The Asian Games bronze medallist Mukherjee sisters Ayhika and Sutirtha will later lock horns with Egypt’s Mariam and Marwa Alhodaby in the women’s doubles round of 32.
