Manika Batra in action© X (Twitter)
Manav Thakkar put up a spirited fight against world number four Harimoto Tomokazu before going down in the round of 64 while Manika Batra produced an ordinary showing against lower-ranked Park Gahyeon to exit the World Table Tennis Championships on Tuesday. Thakkar, ranked 48th, matched his more accomplished Japanese opponent stroke for stroke in the third and fifth game before going down 11-13, 3-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 3-11. Though he lost, Thakkar would be pleased with his performance, having outlasted Harimoto in a number of long rallies through the match. In the women’s singles, 46th ranked Manika looked out of sorts against world number 130 Park from South Korea. To Park’s credit, she comfortably tackled the long pimpled rubber that Manika uses on the backhand.
What contributed to Manika’s downfall was a series of unforced errors from her forehand.
The Indian lost 8-11, 7-11, 5-11, 8-11.
A little later, 88th ranked Diya Chitale could not match the class of Chen I Ching from Chinese Taipei, losing 3-7, 7-11, 6-11, 11-6, 5-11.
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Manika Batra
