Indian paddlers aim for strong show in Budapest event
India’s G. Sathiyan and Manika Batra, seeded fourth and sixth respectively in the men’s and women’s singles respectively, will be hoping to have a good tournament.
Published : Aug 16, 2021 12:43 IST
Post-Tokyo Olympics, the Indian paddlers will have the taste of International competition when the main draw of the WTT Contender Budapest begins in Budapest on Tuesday. This is the first WTT event to be held in Europe. India’s top paddler Sharath Kamal has opted to skip the tournament.
India’s G. Sathiyan and Manika Batra, seeded fourth and sixth respectively in the men’s and women’s singles respectively, will be hoping to have a good tournament. Sathiyan will take on France’s Can Akkuzu in the first round while Manika clashes with Sabine Winter of Germany.
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In mixed doubles, the pair of Sathiyan and Manika will take on Archana Kamath and Manav Thakkar in the first round. The third-seeded duo of Harmeet Desai and Manav, Sanil Shetty-S. Snehit will feature in men's doubles. The other Indians in the singles' main draw include Harmeet, Manav in men's and Archana in women's. Liam Pitchford of England (World ranked 14) is the top seed in men’s singles followed by Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna (WR 21). Ruwen Filus of Germany (WR 35) is seeded third. Xiaoxin Yang of Monaco (Word ranked 44) is the top seed in women's singles and Polina Mikhailova of Russia is second.