India’s world No 6 pair of G Sathiyan and Manika Batra were dealt an upset loss in the round of 16 mixed doubles event at the World Table Tennis Championship in South Africa on Tuesday.
The duo are the highest ranked entry from India across events in Durban, but lost 1-3 to Sweden’s Truls Moregard and Christina Kallberg (11-5, 8-11, 8-11, 10-12). Sathiyan’s campaign in the men’s singles event also came to an end after a 0-4 loss to Germany’s Dang Qiu (6-11, 6-11, 5-11, 7-11).
His partner Manika Batra, however, is still active in the competition. She beat Singapore’s Wont Xin Ru in a straight-games 11-9, 14-12, 11-4, 11-8 win to make it to the women’s singles Round of 32.
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End of Sathiyan-Manika's mixed doubles campaign. They started well, took the lead but the Swedish came back strongly to take games 2 &3. Then Indian pair had a big lead in game 4, decider seemed imminent but a massive comeback by the Swedes. pic.twitter.com/1aY6FXvrzJ
Batra, ranked 39, will face Puerto Rico’s world no 13 Adriana Diaz on Wednesday. Later in the day, she will pair up with Archana Kamath to face the world No 2 women’s doubles team from Japan, Hina Hiyata and Mima Ito.
Also in action on Wednesday is Sathiyan and Achanta Sharath Kamal, who take on England’s Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford in the men’s doubles for a spot in the quarterfinal in a match-up that is a repeat of the 2022 Commonwealth Games final.