WTT Star Contender Goa 2023: Indian campaign comes to an end as Sutirtha, Manika lose in pre-quarters

China’s rising star Tianyi Qian took a time-out and forced Manika Batra into multiple errors to wrap up the match.

Manika Batra in discussion with trainer Aman Balgu. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

India’s campaign came to an end with Sutirtha Mukherjee and Manika Batra losing their respective women’s singles pre-quarterfinals. The day’s honours at the WTT Star Contender Goa 2023 went to Miwa Harimoto - the rising star from a family of table tennis champions and younger sister of teen sensation Tomokazu.

At 14, Miwa is ranked No. 2 in Under-19 girls’ and has risen to the 41st place in the women’s rankings list. The child prodigy on Friday stormed into the women’s singles quarterfinal and entered the women’s doubles and mixed doubles final.

Miwa will, however, not be up against her famous brother in the mixed doubles final as Tomokazu and Hina Hayata lost their semifinal versus Korea’s Woojin Jang and Jiheen Jeon.

While Sutirtha could not match her 44-year-old opponent Fu Yu’s speed to bow out in straight games, Manika played an exciting match against China’s rising star Tianyi Qian. After losing the first two games, Manika adopted an aggressive approach to win the third.

However, after a four-point streak that placed her 6-5 ahead in the fourth game, Qian took a time-out and forced Manika into multiple errors to wrap up the match.

The results:

Doubles: Semifinals:

Mixed: Woojin Jang & Jiheen Jeon (KOR) bt Tomokazu Harimoto & Hina Hayata (JPN) 6-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8; Togami Shunsuke & Miwa Harimoto (JPN) bt Emmanuel Lebesson & Jia Nan Yuan (FRA) 11-9, 13-11, 11-8.

Women’s: Cheng I-Ching & Li Yu-Jhun (TPE) bt Hyoojo Choi & Zion Lee (KOR) 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7; Miwa Harimoto & Miyu Nagasaki (JPN) bt Christina Kallberg & Linda Bergstrom (SWE) 11-5, 12-10, 11-2.

Men’s: Togami Shunsuke & Ukiya Uda (JPN) bt Woojin Jang & Jonghoom Lim (KOR) 11-5, 3-11, 11-3, 6-11, 11-8; An Jaehyun & Cho Seungmin (KOR) bt Mizuki Oikawa & Yuto Kuzukuri (JPN) 11-7, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6.

Singles: Prequarterfinals:

Men: Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN) bt Simon Gauzy (FRA) 11-9, 11-8, 11-9; Lin Gaoyuan (CHN) bt Kristian Carlsson (SWE) 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7; Lin Shidong (CHN) bt Cho Daeseong (KOR) 11-9, 5-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4.

Women: Miwa Harimoto (JPN) bt Chen Szu-Yu (TPE) 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 14-12; Fu Yu (POR) bt Sutirtha Mukherjee (IND) 11-5, 11-7, 11-5; Xiaoxin Yang (MON) bt Liu Weishan 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 14-12, 11-7; Tianyi Qian (CHN) bt Manika Batra (IND) 11-6, 11-3, 9-11, 11-7.