Saudi Smash 2024: Manika Batra and the pair of Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade secure wins, Sharath Kamal, Sreeja Akula bow out

The Saudi Smash 2024, taking place at the Sports Hall King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, kicked off on May 1. While the initial days of the tournament saw several captivating qualifying round matches, the main draw of the tournament commenced on May 4.

The first day of the main draw witnessed some mixed results for the Indian paddlers in contention at the USD 2,000,000 tournament.

In the mixed doubles category, the Indian duo of Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade faced off against Paulina Vega and Nicolas Burgos. In what was a nail-biting encounter, the Indian pair showcased remarkable composure to secure victory in five sets.

The score of the match was 11-7, 9-11, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5. Their win has helped the Indian duo secure a place in the pre-quarterfinals, where they are set to face Maria Xiao and Alvaro Robles of Spain.

While India’s sole doubles pair in action on Saturday clinched victory, the singles category presented a more diverse spectrum of outcomes for the Indian contingent.

Achanta Sharath Kamal, one of India’s most experienced paddlers, took on Quadri Aruna in the round of 64. After a gripping five-set battle against the Nigerian, Kamal ultimately went down with a score of 11-8, 13-11, 8-11, 5-11, 11-13.

In the women's singles category, Sreeja Akula too encountered a stern challenge from Jieni Shao. Despite playing some incredible table tennis, the World No. 38 from India succumbed with scores of 7-11, 11-13, 11-9, 12-14.

However, Manika Batra emerged triumphant in her encounter with Andreea Dragoman to enter the round of 32. The final scoreline of the match was 11-6, 13-11, 11-8. Batra is now set to face Wang Manyu, the World No. 2 from China.

India’s doubles pairs of Manush Shah/Manav Thakkar and Sutirtha Mukherjee/Ayhika Mukherjee will also feature in their respective doubles matches later in the tournament.

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Impressive performances by the Indian paddlers in the qualifying rounds of the Saudi Smash 2024

While all of the Indian paddlers in the main draw had direct entry, several Indian paddlers were fighting their way through the qualifying rounds to secure their place.

In the men's singles category, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, and Snehit Suravajjula all secured impressive wins but ultimately fell short, going down in the last round.

Meanwhile, in the women’s singles event, Sutirtha Mukherjee was another Indian paddler who also went down in the final round of qualifying. Mukherjee ended up on the losing side of a thrilling five-set battle against Spain’s Sofia-Xuan Zhang.

The other Indian paddlers participating in the tournament- Ayhika Mukherjee, Yashaswini Ghorpade, Archana Kamath, and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran all put on fantastic performances but fell short in the earlier rounds of qualifying.