Tokyo Olympics, desk tennis draw: Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra face third seeds in combined doubles opener

Veteran paddler Sharath, who’s scheduled to tackle both Portugal’s Tiago Apolónia or Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo within the second spherical on Monday, might face defending champion China’s Ma Long within the third spherical. India desk tennis star Manika Batra (Courtesy- Manika Batra Twitter)HIGHLIGHTSSharath Kamal and Manika Batra will face third seeds Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I-Ching within the combined doubles classSharath might face defending champion China’s Ma Long within the third sphericalSathiyan will meet Japanese teen-sensation Tomokazu Harimoto if he wins his 2nd spherical matchIndia paddlers have been on Wednesday handed robust attracts on the Tokyo Olympics with the combined doubles pairing of Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra pitted towards third seeds Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei on Saturday. Batra, ranked 62, although obtained a straightforward ladies’s singles first spherical the place she’s going to face Great Britain’s Ho Tin-Tin, ranked 32 locations under the Indian.

The Indian, ought to she win the opening spherical, will lock horns with Ukraine’s Margaryta Pesotska subsequent. Sharath and Manika had sealed the Olympics berth in combined doubles after beating world quantity eight Korean Sang-Su Lee and Jihee Jneon within the closing of Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament in March.Before leaving for Tokyo, the duo might apply just for three days within the nationwide camp earlier than Batra returned to her coaching base in Pune. In the lads’s draw, Sharath and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran seeded twentieth and twenty sixth respectively, obtained first spherical byes. Their opponents for the second spherical will depend upon winners from first spherical matches. However, the going won’t be simple for the duo as Sharath is slated to fulfill Rio Olympics champion China’s Ma Long, seeded second, within the third spherical ought to the Indian win his second spherical match.The veteran paddler is scheduled to tackle both Portugal’s Tiago Apolónia or Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo within the second spherical on Monday. Sathiyan, alternatively, will meet both Puerto Rico’s Brian Afanador or Hong Kong’s Lam Siu Hang in his second spherical match on Sunday. The 28-year-old will run into Japanese teen-sensation Tomokazu Harimoto, seeded third, within the third spherical if Sathiyan wins his second spherical match.But the Indian will head to the fixture stuffed with confidence having crushed Tomokazu within the Asian Championships although the workforce misplaced the rubber in 2019. The different feminine singles paddler within the fray, Sutirtha Mukherjee will tackle Linda Bergstrom of Sweden within the first spherical. If Suthirtha wins her opening match she’s going to face Portugal’s Yu Fu within the second spherical.Click right here for IndiaAt present.in’s full protection of the coronavirus pandemic.