2021 World Table Tennis Championships: Manika Batra shines as India eye historic medals

Manika Batra advanced to the women's doubles and mixed doubles quarter-finals at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, USA, on Friday, placing India one step away from a historic medal.

In the women's doubles, Manika along with Archana Kamath beat the Hungarian duo of Dora Madarasz and Georgina Pota 11-4, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7 in the pre-quarterfinals.

In the mixed doubles, Manika and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran rallied to beat China's Wang Manyu and Kanak Jha of USA 15-17, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7 in the pre-quarterfinals.

Bronze medals will be awarded to all the losing semifinalists in the competition.

Meanwhile, the mixed doubles pairing of Sharath Kamal and Archana lost their round of 16 match to France’s Jia Nan Yuan and Emmanuel Lebesson.

On Thursday, India's challenge ended in singles in both the men's and women's categories. Sathiyan and Ayhika Mukherjee were the only ones to progress beyond the opening round.

However, both lost subsequently - world No 18 Ayhika to Japan’s Hina Hayata 5-11, 4-11, 3-11, 4-11 and Sathiyan to Aruna Quadri of Nigeria in a thriller 11-9, 7-11, 13-15, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9.

"We will give our everything" - Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

Manika and Sathiyan will be up against the Japanese duo of Harimoto Tomokazu and Hayata Hina in the mixed doubles quarterfinals.

“It has been an amazing tournament. It was a superb comeback against a strong pair. We both combined extremely well. Looking forward to keeping up the momentum. It is certainly going to be tough against the top Japanese pair, but we will give our everything,” Sathiyan said.

Manika and Archana will take on Sarah de Nutte and Xia Lian Ni of Luxembourg in the women's doubles last-eight clash.