File Photo of G Sathiyan-Manika Batra
India paddlers Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra clinched the mixed doubles silver medal while Sharath Kamal settled for bronze in men's singles at the 2022 WTT Contender Doha, here on Thursday.
The Indian duo of Sathiyan and Batra, ranked world No 7 lost to the world No 1 pair of Cheng I-Ching and Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei 3-0 (4-11, 5-11, 3-11) in the mixed doubles final at the Lusail Sports Arena.
Sathiyan and Batra were playing in their third final since their reunion after the Tokyo Olympics. The Indian table tennis pair had won WTT Contender Budapest and silver at WTT Contender Tunis, last year.
However, they failed to put up much of a fight against the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists from Chinese Taipei.
Earlier in the semi-final, Batra and Sathiyan had defeated world No 4 Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong 3-2.
Meanwhile, in men's singles, four-time Olympian Sharath Kamal settled for bronze after losing to upcoming Chinese player Yuan Licen 3-4 in the semi-finals. In the earlier rounds, Sharath had blanked 33rd-ranked Croatian Tomislav Pucar in the quarters and world No 59 Lim Jonghoon of South Korea in the round of 16.
Other top Indians in singles -- Manika Batra and G Sathiyan had crashed out in their respective first rounds. In the women's doubles, Manika Batra and Archana Kamath were eliminated after losing their quarter-finals against Chen Szu-Yu and Huang Yi-Hua of Chinese Taipei.
The Indian table tennis players will next be in action at the same venue for WTT Star Contender Doha starting from March 25.
