Mumbai: Paddler Manika Batra‘s run at the World Singles Qualification tournament came to an end on Monday after she suffered a 4-1 defeat against Monaco’s Xiaoxin Yang in the women’s singles knockout stage-I semi-final match in Doha.
Despite losing the first two games, World No. 63 Batra held her nerve and attempted a comeback by winning the third game. However, her relatively higher-ranked opponent Yang, World No. 44, didn’t let the momentum slip and wrapped up the tie 11-9, 11-4, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9.
Earlier in the quarter-finals played late on Sunday, Batra thrashed Uzbekistan’s Rimma Gufranova 12-10, 11-3, 11-6, 11-4 while Sutirtha Mukherjee lost against Russian Polina Mikhailova 12-10, 7-11, 8-11, 11-8, 10-12, 5-11 in a thrilling match.
