Manav Thakkar and Manika Batra scripted wins in the men’s and women’s singles first round of the World table tennis championships in Doha on Sunday. Manav, India’s top-ranked male paddler, outlasted New Zealand’s Timothy Choi 11-3, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12. Manika beat Fatimo Bello of Nigeria 11-5, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2 to progress to the second round.
The results (first round): Men: Singles: Manav Thakkar bt Timothy Choi (Nzl) 11-3, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12; Lam Siu Hang (Hkg) bt Ankur Bhattacharjee 4-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8; Doubles: Maciej Kolodziejczyk (Aut) & Vladislav Ursu (Mda) bt Harmeet Desai & G. Sathiyan 11-9, 10-12, 16-14, 12-10.
Women: Singles: Manika Batra bt Fatimo Bello (Ngr) 11-5, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2.
Mixed doubles: Manush Shah & Diya Chitale bt Mehdi Bouloussa & Malissa Nasri (Alg) 11-2, 11-7, 11-6; Thibault Poret & Leana Hochart (Fra) bt Harmeet Desai & Yasashwini Ghorpade 8-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 12-10.
Published – May 18, 2025 06:07 pm IST