Manika Batra’s historic run at WTT Champions Montpellier ends in QFs

Montpellier [France], October 27 (ANI): Indian paddler Manika Batra made history at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Montpellier 2024 tournament, becoming the first Indian player to make it to the top eight of a WTT Champions tournament.

Though Batra lost 0-3 (8-11, 8-11, 10-12) to China’s Qian Tianyi in the quarterfinals on Saturday, she still had a fine run to feature among the top eight players in the competition, as per Olympics.com.

WTT Champions was launched two years back and is a series of premier table tennis tournaments featuring the world’s top 32 male and female players with massive prize money and boost in ranking points.

Manika, the world number 30 ranked paddler, reached the quarterfinals by defeating world number 14 Bernadette Szocs of Romania by 3-1 (11-9, 6-11, 13-11, 11-9) win on Friday.

She started her campaign with a win over USA’s Lily Zhang by 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 12-10) and followed it with a 29-minute win over eighth-seeded Szocs.

Manika had also defeated Czocs during India’s 3-2 win over Romania in the women’s team table tennis event first round at the Paris Olympics this year.

However, the world number 21 Tianyi was a difficult opponent for Manika to overcome. She had come into the match with a shocking win over compatriot Yidi, the top seed and world No. 4, 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 13-11) in the round of 16.

Meanwhile, Manika’s compatriot Sreeja Akula, the top-ranked women’s singles player at world number 25, faced a first-round exit after a loss to world number 13 Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico by 3-2 (6-11, 11-7, 11-1, 8-11, 11-8).

There were no Indians in the men’s singles competition at the WTT Champions Montpellier 2024.