Manika Batra becomes 1st Indian woman to reach semifinals of Asian Cup Table Tennis tournament

Tags: Sports Sports News

Ace Indian paddler Manika Batra on 18 November, 2022 became the first Indian woman to reach the semifinals of the Asian Cup Table Tennis tournament. 

Important facts

• She registered a hard-fought win over world No. 23 Chen Tzu Yu of Chinese Taipei in Bangkok, Thailand.

• World number 44 Manika beat Chen 4-3 (6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9) in the women's singles quarterfinals.

• She takes on Japan’s Mima Ito in the semifinals on 19 November.

• Former men’s singles player Chetan Baboor is the only Indian table tennis player to win a medal at the Asian Cup. He won silver in 1997 and bronze in 2000.

• In men's singles, world number 39 Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and India's national champion Sharath Kamal, ranked number 44, suffered early exits.

Asian Cup Table Tennis Tournament

• It is an annual table tennis competition held by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and the Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU).

• Its first edition was organized in 1983. The competition consists of men's and women's singles events, with 16 players qualifying to compete in each event.

• It is a qualification event for the World Cup.