Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal reached semifinal of Hungarian Open


Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal reached semifinal of Hungarian Open

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Mixed Doubles

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India’s top Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra has made it to semifinal of the ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open.

Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra showed their class and score 11-8, 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7 victory over Hungarian pair of Adam Szudi and Szandra Pergel. Sharath Kamal and Batra showed glimpses of the fighting spirit and resilience that took them to a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games.

Buoyed by the home support, the Hungarian pair took a two-game lead but that could not deter the Indians, who stormed their way back to win the next two games.

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In quarter final they got walkover by Japanese pair Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito and now they will face German pair of Patrick Franziska and Petrissa Solja in semifinal. The Asian games Bronze medalist pair will look to continue their good run in the tournament.

Men’s doubles

Sharath Kamal and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan pair registered a hard-fought 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9 win against Japanese pair Shunsuke Togami and Yukiya Uda. Now they take on Hungary’s World No. 132 Szudi and World No. 142 Nandor Ecseki in quarterfinals.

However another Indian pair of Harmeet Desai and Manav Vikash Thakkar went down fighting 11-13, 8-11, 13-11, 11-6, 2-11 to Hong Kong’s Hang Siu Lam and Nam Pak NG.

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Women’s Singles

Commonwealth Games Gold medalist, Indian’s top paddler showed her class and grit in game against former world number 10 Chen Szu-Yu. She was 3-0 down at one stage but then she made a brilliant comeback to save match point and rallied to a 9-11 4-11 7-11 12-10 11-9 11-7 14-12 win to enter the Round of 16.

She had earlier won three back to back matches to make it to the main draw of the prestigious event.In next match she will be up against the top Japanese paddler WR11 Miu Hirano.

Men’s Singles

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Sathiyan advanced to the last 16 of the Hungarian Open after beating Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan 11-6, 11-6, 11-9, 11-2 in his first main draw match in Budapest on Thursday.

India’s sole representation in the men’s singles as other lost in preliminary rounds. He will meet world No. 5 Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan next. World No. 30 Sathiyan has fond memories of playing against the Japanese prodigy, who lost in straight games to the Indian in the Asian Championships last year. He will be looking to give similar kind of performance.