WTT Contender Doha 2022: Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran-Manika Batra pair ensure two medals for India

Indian table tennis veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal ensured a medal for India at the ongoing WTT Contender Doha 2022 as he entered the semi-finals in the men's singles category. Earlier, the mixed doubles pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra ensured a silver medal for India as they entered the final.

Sharath Kamal got the better of Tomislav Pucar of Croatia 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-4) in the quarter-finals. He will meet China's Yuan Licen in the semi-finals.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra, ranked seventh in the world, beat Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Ken 3-2 (13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8).

In the final at the WTT Contender Doha 2022, Sathiyan and Manika Batra will meet the top-seeded pair of Taipei Cheng I-Ching and Lin Yun-Ju.

Sharath Kamal brings his A-game to the table in WTT Contender Doha 2022

Sharath Kamal was unstoppable in the quarter-finals. Tomislav Pucar failed to contend with the Indian onslaught and was error-prone on the day.

The closest he came to Sharath was in the first game, where he managed eight points, while he scored one less in the second.

Read: Ayhika Mukherjee elated with first WTT medal

However, in the third game, Sharath ran into a sizable lead and maintained it throughout to register the win in style.

In the semi-finals, Sharath will meet China's Licen, who is ranked 264th in the world, but would be wary of the threat he can pose. It was Licen who accounted for India's top-ranked paddler Sathiyan in the first round.

Manika Batra-Sathiyan pair enter final

Sathiyan and Manika Batra dished out a commendable performance in the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha 2022 against the Hong Kong players.

The way the Indians kept their hopes alive after the Hong Kong pair leveled the score at 2-2 was impressive.

Both Manika Batra and Sathiyan complemented each other's game and stuck to their game plan in the crucial fifth game to stop their opponents well short to win the match.

However, Manika Batra had to contend with a loss in the women’s singles category of the WTT Contender Doha 2022. The versatile paddler lost in the first round, bowing out to China's Fan Siqi 0-3 (7-11, 5-11, 6-11).

The women’s doubles pair of Manika Batra and Archana Kamath went down in the second round of the WTT Contender Doha 2022 to Taipei’s Chen Szu-Yu and Huang Yi-Hua 0-3 (5-11, 9-11, 6-11) while the pair of Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee did not qualify for the main draw.