LJUBLJANA (Slovenia): Indian table tennis star Manika Batra lost a hard-fought battle against Romania's Bernadette Szocs in the pre-quarterfinals of the WTT Star Contender Ljubljana here.
Manika, who had stunned world number 15 Chen I-ching earlier in the competition, went down fighting against the 17th-ranked opponent 4-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 8-11 in a round-of-16 contest on Friday night.
The Indian is ranked 36 in the world and is expected to rise up the chart following her pre-quarterfinal finish here.
