Manika Batra-Archana Kamath win bronze medal in WTT Star Contender Table Tennis tournament

Indian table tennis players Manika Batra and Archana Kamath won the bronze medal at the WTT Star Contender Table Tennis tournament in Doha on Wednesday.

Manika Batra and Archana Kamath capitulated in the semi-finals of the women’s doubles, losing 0-3 to the Chinese Taipei duo of Li Yu-Jhun and Cheng I-Ching.

The Indians, ranked higher than their opponents, failed to reproduce the stellar form they had in the tournament and lost 8-11, 6-11, 7-11.

Manika and Archana, ranked sixth in the world, did well in the first game to stretch the Chinese Tapei duo a little longer, but once the latter had the measure of the Indian pair, they combined well to shut them out.

Read: Neha Aggarwal: "Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran can win a medal in Commonwealth Games 2022"

The Indians couldn't get going at all and the next two games were a mere formality as the Chinese Taipei duo started well and kept their lead and the match in control to close out the contest.

Manika Batra, Sathiyan lose in singles

Manika and India's top-ranked player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran also lost their respective singles matches. With this, India’s campaign in the WTT Star Contender meet came to an end.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Sathiyan lost to Kristian Karlsson of Sweden 1-3 (11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 4-11) while Manika lost to Ying Han of Germany 0-3 (5-11, 2-11, 4-11).

Although Sathiyan began on a confident note, winning the first game 11-5 with some authority, he could not carry the momentum into the following games. The nimble-footed Swede attacked Sathiyan with pace and the Indian player couldn't get his best plans to work and finally succumbed.

Manika, too, couldn't get going from the word go and surrendered meekly. The Indian, ranked 48 in the world, was no match for the Chinese-origin German, ranked 17 in the world, who won comfortably with a 3-0 verdict.