Asian Games 2018: Paddlers Manika Batra, Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran progress to singles pre-quarters

Jakarta: Indian paddlers Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal progressed to the women’s and men’s singles pre-quarter-finals in the table tennis competition of the 18th Asian Games at Jakarta on Thursday. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran also made it to the round of 16 but it was curtains for Mouma Das in women’s singles. [caption id=“attachment_4438199” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Manika Batra. AFP[/caption] Manika, who won four medals at the Commonwealth Games, thrashed Nanthana Komwong 4-0 (11-3 11-7 11-3 11-6) in a lop-sided match in the round of 32, while the experienced Sharath notched up a 4-0 (11-4 11-8 11-7 11-5) win over Pakistan’s 52-year-old Muhammad Asim Qureshi. Later in the day, Sathiyan defeated Indonesia’s Ficky Supit Santoso 4-2 (11-3 9-11 14-12 11-1 9-11) in a round of 32 match. Earlier, Mouma lost 0-4 (6-11 5-11 6-11 6-11) to Chinese Taipei’s Chen Szuyu in a round of 32 match. India’s mixed doubles duo of Sharath and Manika had won a historic bronze on Wednesday. Sharath had earlier led the men’s team to a bronze, ending India’s 60-year-wait for a maiden table tennis medal at the Asian Games. Click here to view the medals tally of the 2018 Asian Games Click here to view the full schedule of the 2018 Asian Games Click here to view the results at the 2018 Asian Games