WTT Contender Muscat: Manika Batra advances to quarters, Archana Kamath and Manav Thakkar in mixed doubles final

Muscat, Oman : Indian paddler Manika Batra advanced to the women’s singles quarter-finals while Archana Kamath and Manav Thakkar reached the mixed doubles final at the 2022 WTT Contender Muscat, here on Thursday.Batra upset Romania’s Bernadette Szocs 3-0 (11-3, 13-11, 11-8) in the round of 16 of women’s singles. She will next face China’s Kuai Man.On the other hand, Archana Kamath lost in the same stage of the women’s singles event following a 0-3 (11-9, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9) loss to Tokyo Olympian Xiaoxin Yang of Monaco. However, Kamath had a good run in mixed doubles with partner Manav Thakkar. They beat Brazil’s Vitor Ishiy and Bruna Takahashi 3-2 (11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 13-11, 11-8) in the quarter-finals before getting the better of Hungary’s Nandor Ecseki and Leila Imre in the semi-final.

Ecseki and Imre, who had knocked out India’s top-rated pair of G Sathiyan and Manika Batra in the quarters, lost 0-3 (11-9, 11-7, 11-5) against Kamath and Thakkar, an olympics.com report said.Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles, Tokyo Olympian Sutirtha Mukherjee and partner Ayhika Mukherjee received a walkover against the Czech Republic team of Zdena Blaskova and Katerina Tomanovska in the quarter-finals.In the semis, the Mukherjees will be up against fellow Indians Sreeja Akula and Selena Selvakumar, who accounted for Singaporean duo Goi Rui Xuan and Wong Xin Ru 3-1 (13-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-7) in the quarters. In men’s doubles, though, India’s campaign ended with a loss to Chinese Taipei’s Peng Wang-Wei and Chuang Chih-Yuan in the quarter-finals.The results on Thursday guaranteed India at least three medals at the Muscat meet – a gold or silver in mixed doubles and a bronze and at least a silver in women’s doubles. Notably, losing semi-finalists at WTT meets get bronze medals.Manika can add to the tally if she progresses in singles.