Sathiyan Gnanasekaran one step away from a main draw berth at WTT Contender Antalya 2023

The Gloria Sports Arena in Turkey is hosting the WTT Contender Antalya 2023 from October 16 to October 22. With a substantial prize purse of 75,000 USD up for grabs, the table tennis tournament will see several top players from around the world. However, only two Indian paddlers, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra, will be seen in action.

While Manika Batra has been granted direct entry into the main draw of the women's singles, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will have to battle his way through the qualification rounds of the men’s singles to secure a place in the main draw.

A closer look at Sathiyan Gnanasekaran's qualification match results

The six-time Commonwealth Games medalist received a bye in the first round of the qualification draw; however, he faced a challenging encounter in the second round against Nandor Ecseki of Hungary.

The match went the distance, and the five-set thriller saw the Indian emerge victorious with the final scorecard reading 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6.

Gnanasekaran will now take on 22-year-old French player Lilian Bardet in the third and final round of the qualification draw on October 18.

Manika Batra, the Commonwealth Games gold medalist from Gold Coast, will open her campaign in the women's singles category against Germany's Annett Kaufmann.

In addition to their singles campaign, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra have paired up to compete in the mixed doubles category. In the round of 16, the Indian duo will face French teenagers Prithika Pavade and Felix Lebrun.

The previous WTT Contender in Muscat saw Manush Shah and Diya Chitale emerge as the only Indian paddlers to reach the quarterfinals.