New Delhi: Former World No.5 mixed doubles pair of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has decided to part ways after forging a three-year partnership. The decision comes after the Indian pair failed to seal a quota for the Paris Olympics 2024.
The paddlers from Delhi and Tamil Nadu first came into the spotlight after they clinched bronze medal in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games after defeating compatriots Achanta Sharath Kamal and Mouma Das. Nevertheless, the partnership only commenced after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 with the target set to compete at the Paris Games this year.
Only a year after this alliance was forged, Manika and Sathiyan broke into the top 10 mixed doubles rankings of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). In March 2022, the pair claimed silver medal in the WTT Contender in Doha to become World No.7. In November that year, the Indian paddlers became the first mixed doubles pair to enter the top five in rankings.
It was after their ascent in rankings that the pair was considered to be medal contenders at Paris Olympics. But a drastic downfall wasn’t expected. In 2023, Manika and Sathiyan crashed out of the Round of 16 in the World Championships in South Africa, exited in the Round of 32 in the Asian Championships in South Korea, failed to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Hangzhou Asian Games 2022 (held in September-October 2023).
It only got worse when the ultimate dream was crushed after the pair failed to grab a quota at the Paris Olympics after getting knocked out in the quarterfinals of their knockout group at the World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification in Havirov, Czech Republic, in April this year. A total four Olympic quotas were available from this events with winners of all four groups made the cut.
The final hopes of automatically qualifying also dished out after the pair was ranked at 18th with only top 16 pairs in ITTF rankings getting the nod for the qudrennial showpiece.
“In the last few months we didn’t play that well (together). We played really great but we missed out on the Olympics and then we thought we should try different partners and see how it goes,” Sathiyan confirmed the development to News9 Sports.
“We wanted to just change partners and look for different partners and see how things go because we played for a long time. We thought we can change partners and look for new relationships on how its are going….. because we don’t want to regret that we never tried.”
What next for Manika and Sathiyan’s mixed doubles journey?
Sathiyan will team up with World No.22 Sreeja Akula, who made it to the pre-quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics in women’s singles. Sreeja is currently under a rehabilitation programme to recover from a stress fracture, which was diagnosed shortly after the return from the French capital.
Sathiyan and Sreeja will probably start their alliance from next year onwards with the World Championships in Doha will be their first major event, although they have paired in a couple of WTT events in Nigeria and Tunisia in the build up to the Paris Games. However, the major focus will be on the multi-sporting events such as the Asian Games in 2026 and the Commonwealth Games.
“It’s obvious choice. Sreeja being one of the best players in the country and I have also known her game well. We had a discussion with Somnath, who has also seen my game and knows it very well. Sreeja has kind of a little bit similar rubber with Manika, which I have also had a experience (of playing with),” Sathiyan said about his new partnership with the Telangana-based paddler.
“Probably at the beginning of next year because for the Asian Championships – she is just coming back from the injury. There will be a lot of events in the Asian Championships. I am not sure we will play at the Asians because that’s the only tournament left this year. Probably we will start from 2025.”
“We will probably look to play at least till the Asian Games and see how we are partnering. Asian Games is the two years cycle we are looking at to take our partnership together,” the 31-year-old Sathiyan added.
Former Indian national table tennis player Somnath Ghosh, who is the personal coach of Sreeja in Hyderabad, confirmed the pairing of Sathiyan and Sreeja’s mixed doubles partnership, though he didn’t promise any long-term commitment.
“We haven’t decided long-term or short-term but at least we will try for one-and-a-half year to two years. After Olympics we were discussing just like that. After Sharath left, Sreeja was not paring with particularly anybody. Me and Sathiyan were just discussing and confirmed it,” Somnath Ghosh told News9.
Sreeja won gold medal in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games in the mixed doubles along with veteran paddler Sharath Kamal. However, the two didn’t paired enough thereafter with Sharath opting to focus more on singles and team events for Asian Games and Olympics.
For Manika, the new beginnings will come in the form of former U-18 and U-21 World No.1 Manav Thakkar. Manav was also in search of a new mixed doubles partner after Karnataka’s Archana Kamath decided to move away from the sport after the Olympics to focus on academics. Manika and Manav haven’t paired before this in any event and their first stint will be at the Asian Championship in Kazakhstan in October (6 to 13).
“After Olympics, I didn’t know these guys (Manika and Sathiyan) are parting ways. I came to know about it in UTT that me and her (Manika) will be playing in the Asian Championship. Also about Archana I came to know after the Olympics only that she is leaving,” Manav said.
“We (me and Manika dii) had a chat in UTT that we are going to play as a mixed doubles pair and coach Massimo told me that you will be playing with her.
“I just know that we are playing in the Asian Championships. I think it would be a long-term thing. I couldn’t interact with her a lot after that she had go to Maccau Smash. I am in the event in Kangra. We will be meeting next week and I would know better after I speak to her,” he explained.
The Indian circuit has four table tennis pairs after the new partnerships with Harmeet Desai-Yashaswini Ghorpade and Manush Shah-Diya Chitale being the remaining two. There will only be two mixed doubles pair from each country in the Asian Championships.
Though Manika and Manav won’t pair together in the WTT China Smash 2024 (September 26 to October 6), they will ensure to train there for the subsequent continental event in Kazakhstan.
“It’s more like a optional move. Let’s say these are the options available for them. We want to go ahead in future and get better because Commonwealth and Asian Games will be in 2026. So we are looking for that,” said Aman Balgu, the personal coach of Manika Batra.
Former World No.5 mixed doubles pair of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has decided to part ways after forging a three-year partnership. The decision comes after the Indian pair failed to seal a quota for the Paris Olympics 2024 as News9 understands after speaking to multiple members involved in this development. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
