Table Tennis Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualifiers: Manika-Gnanasekaran lose in quarter-final; fail to secure Olympics 2024 quota

India’s mixed-doubles pair of Manika-Gnanasekaran failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics 2024 following stage 2 defeat at the World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualifiers in the Czech Republic on Friday.

Having suffered defeat in stage 1 of the tournament, Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran had one more chance to earn a quota. However, the Malaysian pair of Javen Choong and Karen Lyne crashed them out of the tournament on Friday.

Manika-Gnanasekaran suffered a 1-4 loss to Choong and Lyne, failing to hold their nerves at crucial junctures.

The Indian pair went down (11-9, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11,11-8) in the final-eight stage and with that, their hopes of participating at the Paris Olympics 2024 crumbled.

Interestingly, Choong-Lyne had also beaten Manika-Gnanasekaran, earlier, in the quarter-finals of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022.

The loss in the Olympic qualifiers also means that India won’t be competing in the mixed doubles event at the Paris Games. Although, the men’s and women’s teams have earned a quota for the global event, based on the rankings.

While this is the final mixed-doubles qualifying event for the Paris Olympics, a total of five highest-ranked eligible pairs in the mixed doubles world rankings, as of May 7, 2024, will also receive one mixed doubles spot.

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Manika-Gnanasekaran faced heart-crushing defeat in stage 1

The Indian pair kickstarted the campaign with a positive win over the Greek pair of Malamtenia Papadimitriou and Georgios Stamatouros in the round-of-16 encounter. Manika- Gnanasekaran earned a 4-0 win to storm into quarters in Stage 1 of the World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualifier. But, sadly, they couldn’t go on to produce similar results.

The 18th-ranked mixed-doubles pair suffered a 1-4 defeat at the hands of Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong in the quarter-finals of stage 1 on Thursday.

The Indian duo lost 4-1 (7-11, 10-12, 11-9, 6-11, 6-11) to the North Korean pair. The latter, on the other hand, went on to earn an Olympic quota.