Manika Batra’s defeat to Monaco’s Yang Xiaoxin ended India’s search for an Olympic berth from the World singles qualification tournament in Doha on Monday.
Yang, ranked 44th, defeated Manika 11-9, 11-4, 8-11. 11-4, 11-9 to move within one victory from booking a place in the Tokyo Games.
Earlier, Sutirtha Mukherjee and G. Sathiyan lost in the quarterfinals of their respective pools. Russia’s Polina Mikhailova, ranked 46th, stopped Sutritha 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5. Sathiyan, after a first round bye, surrendered tamely to Italy’s Mihai Bobocica 11-7, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5.
To book Olympic berths, the Indians now await the Asian Olympic qualification tournament at the same venue from March 18 to 20.
