Sathiyan, Sharath eye wins in opening campaigns at WTT Contender Series

Sathiyan will take on Commonwealth Games silver medallist Aruna Quadri of Nigeria on Wednesday.

Current national champion Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will look to strike form as he kickstarts his campaign at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender tournament in Doha on Wednesday. He will take on Commonwealth Games silver medallist Aruna Quadri of Nigeria first up.

Sathiyan is expected to meet eight-time Commonwealth Games medallist Achanta Sharath Kamal in the WTT quarters if he crosses the opening hurdle.

Also Read: Manika Batra, Harmeet Desai register easy wins in qualifying rounds of WTT Contender series

Last week, Sathiyan was crowned the national champion as he outsmarted nine-time champion Sharath Kamal 11-6, 11-7, 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8 at the 82nd National Table Tennis Championships in Panchkula. Sathiyan has rapidly risen up the ranking ladder in recent years.

Also Read: Sathiyan ends national TT title drought with win over Sharath Kamal

On Tuesday, the pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Sutirtha Mukherjee eased into the main draw after registering straight-set wins against Daniel Gonzalez and Melanie Diaz of Puerto Rico 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 in the final round of WTT mixed doubles qualifiers.

The other Indian pair, Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra, failed to capitalize on an early lead in the final round and eventually lost to Russia’s Alexander Shibaev and Polina Mikhailova 9-11, 13-11, 13-11, 11-3.

Manika, Harmeet fail to advance to the main draw

After registering back-to-back victories in the first two rounds of WTT women’s singles qualifiers, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra failed to produce her best in the final qualifying round. She failed to negotitate the powerful strokes of Ukraine's Ganna Gaponova and wilted 5-11, 6-11, 14-12, 5-11.

Youngster Sreeja Akula pulled off a major upset by triumphing over 87th-ranked Orawan Paranang of Thailand 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 in the second qualifying round of the WTT women's singles. However, she couldn’t continue the momentum in the battle for a place in the main draw as she lost to Russia's Maria Tailakova 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11 after a brave fight.

Following an easy victory over countryman Anthony Amalraj, Asian Games bronze medallist Harmeet Desai could not get past Russia’s Alexander Shibaev and lost 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 2-11 in the third-round match of the WTT men’s singles qualifiers.

Edited by Sankalp Srivastava