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Star Indian paddler Manika Batra dazzled her way into the semifinals of the World Singles qualification event for the Tokyo Olympics on March 14. However, it was curtains for other Indians in the fray – Achanta Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan and Sutirtha Mukherjee.
World No.63 Batra, who had a very poor showing in the WTT Contenders series, began her campaign with an 11-5, 11-7, 11-4 straight-set win over Bulgaria’s Maria Yovkova at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Doha. The 25-year-old continued her imperious form against Rimma Gufranova of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals.
Although her Uzbek opponent provided stiff resistance in the first set, Batra was cautious in her approach and used her wide range of shots to good effect, winning the opening game 12-10. The 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist took full control of the match from there on and never looked back.
Batra attacked Gufranova with powerful drives and timed the ball sweetly, allowing her opponent little space as she pocketed the next three games 11-3, 11-6, 11-4 without much fuss to wrap up the match. She will next face World No. 44 Yang Xiaoxin of Monaco in the last four.
If all goes well, Batra could either face Spanish Maria Xiao (72) or Russian Yana Noskova (60) in the final.
Sutirtha Mukherjee falters against Polina Mikhailova
On the other hand, Mukherjee began her campaign with a dominating 11-3, 11-5, 11-7, 12-10 win over her Belgian opponent Lisa Lung before losing 12-10, 7-11, 8-11, 11-8, 10-12, 5-11 against Polina Mikhailova.
Up against Russia's Mikhailova in the quarterfinals, the World No.95 Indian fought hard to pocket the opening game. Mikhailova, 34-year-old, who had competed in the 2016 Rio Games, came back into the match, winning the next two games.
The Indian then drew level, winning the fourth game, but couldn’t get past the experienced Russian in the next two two games to bow out of the event.
In the men’s category, both Kamal and Sathiyan bowed out of the tournament, losing their respective quarterfinal games on the day. While Kamal lost to Niagol Stoyanov of Italy 11-9, 6-11, 8-11, 4-11, 11-8, 10-12, Sathiyan was undone by another Italian Mihai Bobocica 7-11, 6-11, 8-11, 5-11.
What's next for Indian paddlers?
The road is not yet over for Kamal, Sathiyan and Mukherjee as they have the Asian Qualifiers up next from March 18 to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Kamal and Sathiyan are favorites to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics from the Asian meet, as they will enter the competition as the highest-ranked contenders.
For Mukherjee, she has to dig deep to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
If Batra manages to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics through the World qualifiers, she won't be participating in the Asian event.
