Manika Batra makes table tennis history, becomes first Indian to qualify for quarter-finals at a WTT Champions event

Indian paddler Manika Batra on Friday qualified for the quarter-finals of the WTT Champions competition in Montpellier, France, following a stunning 3-1 victory over Bernadette Szocs in the round of 16. The World No 30 outplayed the World No 14 with the scoreline reading 11-9, 6-11, 13-11, 11-9. She thus became the first Idian to qualify for the quarter-finals of a WTT Champions event.

Batra had also beaten the Romanian at the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier this year with a scoreline of 3-2. Batra had become the first table tennis player from India to reach the last 16 in the singles table tennis competition in an Olympics.

On Friday, the Indian won the first game before Szocs bounced back to win the second game and level the contest 1-1. Manika went onto save two game points in the third game and led 7-4 against Szocs in the fourth game.

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Szocs showed glimpses of a fightback in the fourth game, but Batra eventually emerged victorious with a 11-9 score. Batra will lock horns against Qian Tianyi of China in the quarter-finals on Saturday. Qian had beaten fellow Chinese paddler Wang Yidi with a 3-0 score in the other round of 16 match.