WTT Contender: Indian women's doubles pairs assure medal 

Indian table tennis doubles pairs Ayhika Mukherjee-Sutirtha Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula-Selena Deepthi got off to an excellent start in the ongoing WTT Contender. The tournament is taking place in Muscat, where the pair of duos entered the semi-finals and assured India of a medal.

Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha started off well, beating top-seeds Adriana Diaz and Melanie Diaz of Puerto Rico 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-9) in their Round-of-16 clash.

In the quarter-finals, the Indian duo were slated to meet Czech pair Zdena Blaskova and Katerina Tomanovsk. But with the Czech pair pulling out, the Indians entered the semi-finals automatically.

Sreeja Akula and Selena Deepthi got the better of Singapore's Lin Ye and Zeng Jian 3-2 (11-8, 5-11, 13-11, 5-11, 11-4) in the Round-of-16. They went on to beat Singaporeans Rui Xuan and Won Xin 3-1 (13-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-7) in the quarter-finals.

It will be an all-Indian affair in the semi-finals of the WTT Contender with Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha meeting Sreeja and Selena.

Sathiyan ousted from WTT Contender

However, it was not all rosy for top-ranked Indian player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran when he couldn't stave off a challenge from 16-year-old Lin Shidong from China. The Chinese teenager outsmarted the Indian in the Round-of-32 clash 1-3 (8-11, 13-11, 2-11, 8-11).

The Chinese teenager made a great start to his career, appearing for the first time in a Contender event. The Chinese took the first game but lost the second on extended points when Sathiyan resisted stoutly.

Yet, the right-hander with a shake-hand grip gave a glimpse of his capabilities, blocking and returning fast and well. He allowed Sathiyan a mere two points to go 2-1 up.

In the fourth game, the pressure was on the Indian paddler to salvage some pride. But Shidong maintained a comfortable lead throughout to beat the Indian and enter the pre-quarterfinals.

Manika Batra, Archana Kamath advance

In the women’s singles, Manika Batra and Archana Kamath progressed to the Round-of-16, beating their rivals Lin Ye of Singapore and Mo Zhang of Canada, respectively. Manika beat Lin 12-10, 11-8, 11-8. Archana, who dropped the second after deuce, beat the Canadian 11-6, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9.

However, Sreeja Akula tasted defeat when Jia Nan Yuan of France won 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8 in a thriller.

Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath entered the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles category in the ongoing WTT Contender beating Abdullah Yigenler and Ozge Yilmaz of Turkey 11-9, 14-12, 11-2.

Sathiyan and Manika advanced automatically Russian pair of Kirill Skachkov and Olga Vorobeva were denied participation in the ongoing WTT Contender.

The ITTF announced its decision to temporarily suspend players from Belarus and Russia, following the latter’s invasion of Ukraine from all international tournaments.