World desk tennis championships | Manav and Manika win; Ankur loses

Manav Thakkar and Manika Batra scripted wins within the males’s and ladies’s singles first spherical of the World desk tennis championships in Doha on Sunday. Manav, India’s top-ranked male paddler, outlasted New Zealand’s Timothy Choi 11-3, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12. Manika beat Fatimo Bello of Nigeria 11-5, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2 to progress to the second spherical.

The outcomes (first spherical): Males: Singles: Manav Thakkar bt Timothy Choi (Nzl) 11-3, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 14-12; Lam Siu Grasp (Hkg) bt Ankur Bhattacharjee 4-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8; Doubles: Maciej Kolodziejczyk (Aut) & Vladislav Ursu (Mda) bt Harmeet Desai & G. Sathiyan 11-9, 10-12, 16-14, 12-10.

Girls: Singles: Manika Batra bt Fatimo Bello (Ngr) 11-5, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2.

Blended doubles: Manush Shah & Diya Chitale bt Mehdi Bouloussa & Malissa Nasri (Alg) 11-2, 11-7, 11-6; Thibault Poret & Leana Hochart (Fra) bt Harmeet Desai & Yasashwini Ghorpade 8-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 12-10.