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India's latest table tennis sensation Akash Pal grabbed the limelight after securing a spot in the men’s singles main draw of the WTT Feeder Dusseldorf 2024. He bagged four consecutive impressive wins in the qualifying draw in the ongoing tournament in Germany.
Pal started off the first round with a win over Iskender Kharki from Kazakhstan with a scoreline of 11-7, 11-5, and 11-7 in a three-straight-game victory. In the subsequent round, he defeated Brazil's Guilherme Teodoro by 11-6, 11-7 and 11-9.
Later, in the third qualifying round, he secured a victory over Croatia’s Frane Kojic by 15-17, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6 and 11-6 in a five-game thriller. In the fourth and final qualifying round, Pal defeated Chinese Taipei’s Yiu Kwan To by 11-7, 11-4, 4-11, and 11-3.
Akash Pal will be locking horns with Chinese Taipei’s Lam Siu Hang in the first round of the main draw on April 10, Wednesday. He would be taking inspiration from his maiden title win in the recent mixed doubles event in WTT Feeder Beirut II.
Akash Pal and Poymantee Baisya recently clinched the WTT title
In March 2024, world 57th-ranked mixed doubles pair Akash Pal and Poymantee Baisya recently stole the spotlight after clinching the WTT Feeder Beirut II mixed doubles title after defeating Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in the grand finale by 11-9, 7-11, 11-9 and 11-0.
Moving back to the WTT Feeder Düsseldorf 2024, in women's singles, India’s Nithya Mani had to bow out of the qualifying draw after losing to Lam Yee Lok in the third qualifying round by 0-3 (3-11, 3-11 and 7-11).
She started off the first round with a win over Julie Poncin by 3-0 (11-7, 11-7 and 11-1). Later, she secured a win in the second round over Kim Hana by 3-1 (11-3, 11-4, 9-11, and 11-5). However, due to her poor show in the third round, she had to make an exit.
In the mixed doubles qualifying draw, India’s pair Anannya Basak and Rahul Malik had to make an exit after losing to Chan Baldwin and Lee Hoi Man Karen by 0-3. (5-11, 6-11, 6-11).
