TT World Championships: Manika Batra, Manav Thakkar Storm Into Round Two

DOHA: Star Indian table tennis player Manika Batra cruised to the second round of the Table Tennis World Championships with a dominant straight-game win, while Manav Thakkar also made a confident start to his singles campaign, in Doha, on Sunday.

Seeded 22nd, Manika registered a commanding 4-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2) victory over Nigeria's Fatima Bello in a women's singles fixture that lasted just 24 minutes.

She will be up against Korea's Park Gahyeon in the round of 64.

India's top-ranked men's singles player, Thakkar, also began in style, defeating New Zealand's Timothy Choi 4-1 (11-3, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12) in the opening round.

However, it was a forgettable debut for 18-year-old Ankur Bhattacharjee, who exited in the first round after a 1-4 (11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 10-12, 8-11) defeat to Hong Kong's Lam Siu Hang in his men's singles outing.

In the doubles, the ninth-seeded pair of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale made a strong start, registering a comprehensive 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-6) win over Algeria's Mehdi Bouloussa and Malissa Nasri.

But it was disappointment for the men's doubles pairing of Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, who bowed out in the opening round, after suffering a 1-3 (9-11, 12-10, 14-16, 10-12) defeat at the hands of Austria's Maciej Kolodziejczyk and Moldova's Vladislav Ursu. Agencies

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