Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran eye Paris 2024 Olympics mixed doubles spot in last opportunity
India's table tennis pairing of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will compete at the World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification event in Havirov, Czechoslovakia. The two-day event will take place on April 11-12.
This tournament will be the final opportunity for the Batra-Gnanasekaran duo to seal a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The tournament will see 32 pairs taking part. In the end, four teams will qualify for the Olympics.
Batra and Gnanasekaran are currently ranked 17th in the ITTF World Rankings. For Olympic qualification, they will have to be one of the four teams that emerge as the winners of the four knockout rounds in Havirov.
As of now, six pairs have qualified thanks to their country ranking at the top in their respective continental events. The top-five pairs in the world ranking, apart from the ones who have earned their spot already, will also make it to Paris. As the host nation, France would also have a mixed doubles team of its own.
This leaves four spots, and they would be jostled for in the upcoming qualification event in Czechoslovakia.
There will be four knockout draws in the tournament. On Day 1, two knockout draws will be played and the winners will seal their spot. The next day, two more knockout draws will take place, and this time, participants from the first day who didn't qualify will feature again. The winners of the two knockout draws on Day 2 will also book their tickets to Paris.
All matches in this tournament will be in the best-of-seven format. So, the endurance and tenacity of the players will be tested.
Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in action at WTT Feeder Varazdin
The duo of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will be in action at the ongoing WTT Feeder Varazdin event in Croatia. The Indian pair will start their campaign with a match against Turkiye's Ibrahim Gunduz and Sibel Altinkaya.
Interestingly, Batra has gained the financial backing of the Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) of the Sports Authority of India (SAI). This means that her costs for competing in the WTT Feeder Varazdin and the World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification event will be frayed by the authorities.
Financial support has also been extended to her coach Aman Baglu as well as Batra's sparring partner Kiryl Barabanov.