Indian paddler duo of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran bagged the mixed doubles title at the WTT Contender Budapest table tennis event on Friday.
Manika Batra and G Sathiyan beat Hungary's Nandor Ecseki and Dora Madarasz 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-6) to become the first Indian table tennis players to win a WTT Contender title.
The fifth-seeded Indian duo only faced hiccups during the second set of the match as after tying the score 9-9, two errors by them allowed Ecseki-Madarasz to win the second game.
Batra and Sathiyan then easily regained their momentum in the last two games of the match after winning the first, to lift the mixed doubles title. They were the only Indian players in action on the final day of the WTT Contender Budapest.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was knocked out in the second round of the men's singles while Manika Batra had bowed out in the semi-finals of the women's singles after losing in straight games to Elizabet Abraamian of Russia.
The WTT Contender Series is a part of the revamped ITTF calendar launched this year and features two tiers of events -- WTT Star Contender and WTT Contender, as per Olympics.com. The events carry world ranking points that help players to progress through the new structure into WTT Champions and Grand Smash events.
".@sathiyantt and @manikabatra_TT Nandor Ecseki/Dora Madarasz 11-9 9-11 12-10 11-6 in the mixed doubles event at the 2021 WTT Contender Budapest to win the Final Many congratulations to the duo!! #TableTennis #IndianSports," SAI Media tweeted.
( With inputs from ANI )
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