Singapore Smash 2024: Manav Thakkar, Sutirtha Mukherjee one step away from main draw

The Singapore Smash 2024 is underway at the Singapore Sports Hub. The USD 1,500,000 tournament is witnessing participation from most of the top paddlers in the world.

Several Indian table tennis stars are also taking part in the tournament. However, most of them will have to battle their way through the qualifying rounds to secure their places in the main draw.

The second day of the tournament saw some incredibly close matches. India’s Manav Thakkar and Sutirtha Mukherjee won their respective encounters and are now only one victory away from a place in the main draw. India’s highly experienced Achanta Sharath Kamal also won his match and has reached the second round of the qualifiers.

A closer look at the results of the Indian paddlers at the Singapore Smash 2024

In the men's singles category, Manav Thakkar displayed a stellar performance, comfortably defeating France's Can Akkuzu in a straight-game victory in the second round of qualifying matches. The final score of the match was 11-8, 11-7, 11-8.

Thakkar previously beat Hong Kong's Lam Siu Hang 3-1 in his first-round encounter yesterday. He will take on Maciej Kubik and is now one win away from entering the main draw.

Meanwhile, veteran Sathiyan Gnanasekaran encountered a tough challenge against another French paddler, Lilian Bardet, narrowly losing 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11 in a thrilling five-set battle.

India’s Achanta Sharath Kamal, on the other hand, got the better of Andrei Istrate 12-10, 11-8, 11-5 in his first-round match, and the 41-year-old is now set to face Japan's Yuta Tanaka. He will have to win two more rounds for a place in the main draw.

The women's singles category saw Asian Games medalist Sutirtha Mukherjee clinch victory against Singapore's Zhang Wanling. The nail-biting match saw a see-saw battle between the two paddlers, with Mukherjee taking the first and third games but Wanling fighting back both times to level terms. The Indian paddler ultimately held her nerve in the decider to seal the match with a scoreline of 11-4, 11-13, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7.

Mukherjee previously defeated Ana Codina of Argentina in a 3-1 win and will now face the winner of Ivy Liao and Andreea Dragoman in the last round of qualifying.

Sutirtha Mukherjee was India’s sole representative in the women’s singles category today. Archana Kamath, Yashaswini Ghorpade, and Reeth Tennison faced defeats in their respective first-round matches on Thursday, March 7.

While some of the Indian paddlers fight for a place in the main draw, Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula have already secured direct entries into the main draw, which commences on March 10. Additionally, India will also have representatives in all doubles categories of the main draw.