Manika Batra cruises into second round

Former Commonwealth Games champion Manika Batra breezed into the second round of the women’s singles event at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals 2025 in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday.

World No. 46 Manika Batra defeated Nigeria’s Fatimo Bello, ranked 89th, in straight games 4-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2) in her opening round match. She will face 17-year-old Park Gahyeon of the Republic of Korea next.

India’s top-ranked men’s singles table tennis player Manav Thakkar, the world No. 49, also got his campaign off to a good start with a 4-1 (11-3, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12) victory over 168th-ranked Timothy Choi of New Zealand.

Teenager Ankur Bhattacharjee, however, bowed out in the first round. The 18-year-old Indian table tennis player lost 4-1 (11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 10-12, 8-11) to world No. 129 Lam Siu Hang of Hong Kong China.

Click here to read article