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Young Indian paddler Manav Thakkar entered the men's singles semifinal of the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi 2024 on Wednesday, January 17, at the American Bank Center. The World No.102 rallied past Italian Niagol Stoyanov 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10 in the quarterfinal.
Thakkar for most of the match, was on the attacking song to keep his opponent on the backfoot. He put himself in a commanding position with giant leads, particularly in the second one at 6-0.
Stoyanov was the complete opposite of Thakkar. He didn't flinch even after the Indian had a two-game cushion; instead he backed his composure and defensive gameplay, and got involved in long rallies to induce his younger opponent to make blunders.
Instead of continuing with his hurtling pace, the Surat-born paddler slowed down in a bid to win points through drop shots only to hit the net on a couple of occasions. Nevertheless, he completed the victory in the fourth game even after the late challenge from the Italian. The Table Tennis prodigy didn't hold himself from expressing his emotions with each point, followed by an uproarious celebration.
Thakkar's Surat mate and senior Indian player Harmeet Desai lost to Kirill Gerassimenko 3-1 (10-12, 11-6, 7-11, 9-11) in another quarterfinal. Earlier in the day, he overcame an early-game deficit against USA's Nikhil Kumar to win 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-5.
Sreeja Akula clinches thrilling win to make semifinals
World No.94 Sreeja Akula defeated Amy Wang of the USA fashionably in the women's singles quarterfinal clash. It was a game of odds, wherein each paddler won the alternate game.
Sreeja managed to balance the game with her smooth rubbers, while Amy challenged her with forehand prowess. Sreeja has a demeanor where she doesn't get carried away from challenging moments but responds with a nonchalant face.
That's how she pulled off the decider when Amy was leading at 9-7; the forehand shots mixed with the ability to control the movement in the middle of long rallies. Amy was lured for points, resulting in the ball being hit out twice in the last four points, and thus Sreeja progressed to the semis with a scoreline of 11-9, 9-11, 11-1, 6-11, 11-9.
