New Delhi: India’s star player Manika Batra suffered a twin blow on Day 3 of Ultimate Table Tennis, featuring in two crushing defeats and handing Goa Challengers a massive 11-4 victory over RP-SG Mavericks Kolkata here on Saturday.
Manika first capitulated 0-3 in the opening women’s singles encounter to compatriot Archana Kamath, giving the 19-year-old her biggest victory in her blossoming career.
Manika then lost 1-2 in the mixed doubles too, pairing up with World No.55 Benedikt Duda, to see her team RP-SG Mavericks Kolkata slide to a huge loss.
The rechristened Goan team rode on Archana’s early coup to demolish a seemingly strong RP-SG in each of the first four clashes, with Spain’s Alvaro Robles and Amalraj Anthony/Cheng I-Ching scoring 2-1 wins in the men’s singles and mixed doubles.
India’s Amalraj followed up his good show with another upset, beating Germany’s Benedikt in the second men’s singles.
RP-SG’s strategy to field Sanil Shetty against Alvaro Robles did not pay off as the Spaniard came from behind to deliver two points for his team. The opening game of the match lived up to the expectations with both the players involved in exquisite stroke-making.
