[Watch] Manika Batra, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran sweat it out before the Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification event in Havirov

Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran were seen practicing hard ahead of the World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification event in Havirov. Manika has been a top name in Indian table tennis since she donned the national colors in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

During the practice session, Manika looked steady and engaged in a healthy rally with Sathiyan, who showed a lot of agility as well.

In Tokyo, Manika missed out on finishing on the podium, but earlier this year, in an interview with The Times of India (TOI), the youngster talked about her aspirations to win a medal in Paris. Manika and Sathiyan were among the four paddlers India sent to the Tokyo Olympics along with Sharath Kamal and Sutirtha Mukherjee.

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Sathiyan and Manika finish as runners-up in Beirut

The pair of Sathiyan and Manika recently lost to Akash Pal and Poymantee Baisya in the final of the mixed doubles event in the WTT Beirut after failing to convert five match points.

Batra and Sathiyan are the only Indian pair for the event in Havirov, Czech Republic, scheduled to take place on April 11 and 12. In the first round, they will be up against the Greek pair of Malamatenia Papadimitriou and Georgios Stamatourous.

The pair of Sathiyan and Manika are ranked 18th in ITTF’s latest mixed doubles world table tennis rankings. 26 teams will be plying their trade in the tournament in Havirov. The teams will be divided into two knock-out groups based on their seedings.

The teams that will emerge victorious in their groups will get a direct quota for the Paris Olympics, which is set to take place from July 26 to August 11.

It will be the first time that India will take part in team events in table tennis at the Olympics. The men’s and women’s teams are currently ranked 15th and 13th in the world.