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In a video posted by World Table Tennis on X (formerly Twitter), Indian ace table tennis player Manika Batra can be seen beating World No. 14 Nina Mittelham. The win helped the Indian to advance to the quarter-final of the ongoing Saudi Smash 2024.
Notably, the win came in three straight games as Batra secured a victory with a scoreline of 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 in just 22 minutes to knock Germany's Mittelham out. This will be Batra's first-ever quarter-final at a Grand Smash event.
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Interestingly, before Saudi Smash 2024, Batra had never even won a singles match at this level. The win also helped Batra secure her first-ever win over the German player across four different meetings.
Manika Batra will next take on Hina Hayata from Japan
Manika Batra, who is currently ranked 39th in the world, is now likely to make it into the top 25 in the world when the rankings are unveiled next. In the quarter-finals, she will face Japan’s Hina Hayata, who is ranked World No. 5, on Thursday, May 9.
Importantly, Batra had secured a 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, and 12-10 win in the second round over World No. 2 paddler Wang Manyu after opening her campaign with an 11-6, 13-11, 11-8 win over Andreea Dragoman of Romania.
Unfortunately, Batra lost India’s top-ranked women’s paddler status when Sreeja Akula moved to the 38th spot in the world to overtake her in April 2024. Nevertheless, with this performance, Batra will reclaim her top position in Indian women’s rankings.
It’s important to note that Manika Batra has become the first Indian player to reach the last eight of the Women’s Singles draw at a WTT Grand Smash event after bagging her win over Nina Mittelham
Furthermore, on a bad note, India’s campaign in doubles events came to an end on Tuesday, May 7. The women's doubles pair of Ayhika Mukherjee-Sutirtha Mukherjee, the mixed doubles pair of Harmeet Desai-Yashaswini Ghorpade, and the men’s doubles pair of Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah suffered defeats in their respective matches.
