Manika, Sutirtha, Sathiyan lose in Doha TT Olympic qualification event

World No. 44 Yang Xiaoxin defeated India's Manika Batra 11-9, 11-4, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9 to move within one victory from booking a place in the Tokyo Olympics.

Team Sportstar

15 March, 2021 19:06 IST

Team Sportstar

15 March, 2021 19:06 IST

Manika Batra in action during the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship in Cuttack | Photo Credit: Biswaranjan Rout

Manika Batra’s defeat to Monaco’s Yang Xiaoxin ended India’s search for an Olympic berth at the World Singles Qualification Tournament in Doha on Monday.

Yang, ranked 44th in the world, defeated Manika 11-9, 11-4, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9 to move within one victory from booking a place in the Tokyo Olympics.

Earlier, Sutirtha Mukherjee and G. Sathiyan lost in the quarterfinals of their respective pools. Russia’s Polina Mikhailova, ranked 46th, stopped Sutirtha 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5. Sathiyan, who had a first round bye, surrendered tamely to Italy’s Mihai Bobocica 11-7, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5.

To book Olympic berths, the Indian paddlers now await the Asian Olympic Qualifiers Tournament at the same venue from March 18 to 20.