Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee seal qualification to the Tokyo Olympic Games

Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee seal qualification to the Tokyo Olympic Games

Sutirtha Mukherjee

Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee made their way to the Tokyo Olympic Games after their Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament match in Doha. The latter came up trumps winning 4-2 to seal the spot while Batra qualified automatically due to her being the highest-ranked second placed player at the qualifiers. It is noteworthy that had Batra won, she would have qualified but not Sutirtha.

Sutirtha thus, had a must-win match facing her and she aced it with flying colors. However, it was not all rosy from the very beginning as it was Batra who took the first game 11-7. Sutirtha then came roaring back in the next two games. Despite a loss in the fourth, the fifth and sixth were sealed with dominance and scorelines of 11-5 and 11-4 to win the tie and seal Olympic qualification.

Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran had already sealed qualification

Manika-batra-Khel-Ratna
Manika Batra

The other Indians who have already made their way to the Tokyo Olympic Games include Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran who both came up with assured performances at their respective Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament matches to seal spots in the all-important event.

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Now that the singles spots are sealed, the focus for the Indians would shift to the mixed doubles where Manika Batra is partnered with Sharath Kamal. The duo have a chance of qualifying for the Olympic Games and that would be their sole focus at the moment. The two came up trumps in the quarter-final beating Mohammed Abdul Wahhab and Maha Faramarzi of Qatar. They now have two more crucial matches ahead of them.

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