ITTF World C'ships: Manika Batra, Manav Thakkar advance to round of 64, Sathiyan exits - Highlights
Catch all the highlights from the second day of the 2025 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Manika Batra. (Photo credit: Jio Cinema)
The second batch of Indian paddlers competed in the first round of the 2025 Table Tennis World Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday.
Five Indian paddlers, including Manika Batra, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, and Manav Thakkar, were in action at the singles round of 128 matches. In contrast, the men's doubles duo of Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai were in action for the round of 64 match.
In mixed doubles, both Indian pairs of Diya / Manush and Yashaswini / Harmeet began their campaign in the first round.
As it happened:
India had a mixed day with just three wins out of the eight matches on the second day.
Results:
- XD: - Manush-Diya (IND) won against Mehdi-Nasri (ALG)
- XD: - Harmeet-Yashaswini (IND) lost to Poret-Hochart (FRA)
- MD: - Sathiyan-Harmeet (IND) lost to Maciej-Ursu (AUT-MDA)
- WS: - Manika Batra (IND) won against Fatimo Bello (NGA)
- MS: - Ankur Bhattacharjee (IND) lost to Lam Siu Hang (HKG)
- MS: - Manav Thakkar (IND) won against Timothy Choi (NZL)
- MS: - Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND) lost to Thibault Poret (FRA)
- WS: - Yashaswini Ghodpade (IND) lost to Jia Nan Yuan (FRA)
Yashaswini tried her best but fell short of the much higher-ranked Jia Nan of France, losing the five-game encounter in a marathon 48-minute match.
Yashaswini had one game to her name, but she could not replicate the same in the following games, losing closely in the dying moments.
Final Score: Yashaswini (IND) 1-4 (7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 8-11) Jia Nan (FRA)
The youngster Yashaswini Ghodpade will begin her singles campaign with a match against a much higher-ranked world no.36 French player, Jia Nan.
Sathiyan could not challenge his French opponent and despite a few good block shots and tricky serve he lost out the match in straight-games.
With this, Sathiyan's tournament is over as he lost his men's doubles match earlier in the day.
Final Score: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND) 0-4 (5-11, 6-11, 7-11, 6-11) Thibault Poret (FRA)
There will be two singles matches for India in the evening session, which will be the final first-round matches of the competition.
Evening session schedule:
- MS: - Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (IND) Vs Thibault Poret (FRA) at 10:20 PM IST
- WS: - Yashaswini Ghodpade (IND) Vs Yuan Jia Nan (FRA) at 11:00 PM IST
The 18-year-old Ankur Bhattacharjee had a disappointing outing at the first round of his maiden world championship match, losing in five games to higher-ranked Lam Siu Hang of Hong Kong.
Ankur won the first game of the match and also had his chances in a couple of the following games, but he failed to maintain his lead and lost those games closely, ending his campaign in Doha.
Final Score: Ankur Bhattacharjee (IND) 1-4 (11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 10-12, 8-11) Lam Siu Hang
Game-5: Ankur (IND) 8-11 Lam (HKG)
Game-4: Ankur (IND) 10-12 Lam (HKG)
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