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In a round of 16 cliffhanger, Indian paddler Manika Batra stunned World No. 7 Chen Xingtong at the ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup in Bangkok on Thursday for one of the biggest match wins of her career.
Elsewhere though, compatriot G Sathiyan lost his men’s single pre-quarterfinals.
On the first day of the tournament, World No 44 Manika, who is unseeded in the event, defeated the third seeded Chinese 4-3 in the round of 16. The final score in the nail-biting drama was 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9 in favour of the Indian.
The Chinese forced a decider and tied the scores at 9-9. However, Manika served out her opponent, winning the final two points to qualify for the finals.
Manika will clash with world No. 23 Chen Szu Yu from Taipei in the quarterfinals on Friday.
After upsetting world number 7, the Indian said, “I am really happy beating world no. 7 in the world, will just keep continuing playing my best and will keep this focus for next rounds.”
Earlier in the day, Sathiyan, the world’s top-ranked Indian at No. 39, went down fighting to fifth-seeded Japanese Yukiya Uda in the pre-quarterfinals. Although the Japanese eventually won the game, Sathiyan showed remarkable character when trailing 0-2 to tie the score at 2-2.
Sathiyan claimed the critical point to take the match to a decider but Uda dominated Sathiyan in the final game and progressed with a 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6 victory.
Also facing defeat was Sharath Kamal Achanta who lost 1-3 against Chuang Chih-Yuan.
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