Three Indian women paddlers on Monday qualified for the main draw of ITTF World Championships on the second day of the competition at Budapest, PTI reported.
Suthirta Mukherjee, Madhurika Patkar and Archana Kamath have joined Manika Batra in the main draw of women’s singles, while Anthony Amalraj and Manav Thakkar are just a match away from making the cut in the men’s singles.
Having won their first-round women’s singles group matches on the opening day on Sunday, Patkar defeated Catherine Spicer of Trinidad and Tobago 11-3, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 while Mukherjee beat Rachel Moret of Switzerland 14-12, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9 and Archana overcame Slovak’s Eva Odorova 4-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 to top their respective groups.
Kamath, who had a tough opening match yesterday, where she struggled to beat Ivana Petric of Montenegro 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 on Monday also she was 0-2 down before she managed to get the better of her Slovak opponent to win the last four games.
On the other hand, it was rather easy for Patkar, who beat Latvia’s Sabina Musajeva 11-4, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 11-7 in the opening match.
Patkar prevailed over Celia Baah Danso of Ghana 11-4, 11-5, 11-1, 11-8 in her first group match. Batra, because of her world ranking, was one of the top 64 women paddlers who had received direct entry into the second stage.
In men’s singles qualification rounds, Amalraj and Manav had topped their respective groups but will have to play their preliminary round to make the main draw, where they could join G Sathiyan and A Sharath Kamal.
After accounting for Poland’s Patryk Chojnowski 11-8 11-9 5-11 6-11 11-5 11-6 yesterday in the first group match, Manav defeated Nicholas Tio of the US 11-6 11-9 13-11 12-14 11-3 today to secure the top place in the group.
Amalraj, who got a walkover against Kodjo Boccovi of Togo on Sunday, had to just win a match against Allan Gutierrez from Gautemala, a task he accomplished with ease. He won the second group match 11-6, 11-3, 11-6, 11-7.
The preliminary matches that will decide the fate of the two Indians are slated later tonight with Amalraj taking on Tom Jarvis of England and Thakker facing Leonardo Mutti of Italy.
The two Indian men’s doubles pairs of Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal, and Manav Thakkar and Amalraj have received direct entries into the main draw but in the women’s doubles, only the first Indian pair of Manika Batra and Archana Kamath have been handed an entry.
The second doubles pair of Mukherjee and Patkar have to qualify against Lativa’s Sabina Musajeva and Inta Zdanovska to book their second stage berth.