Commonwealth Games: Manika Batra lone Indian to reach women`s singles quarters

Glasgow: Rising Indian table tennis player Manika Batra fought her way into the women`s singles quarterfinals while top paddler Sharath Kamal entered the quarterfinals of men`s doubles and mixed doubles at the Commonwealth Games here on Thursday.

Batra, the 19-year-old from Delhi, recovered from a two game deficit to beat Canadian teenager Anqi Luo 11-13 11-7 8-11 11-2 11-7 11-9 at the Scotstoun Sports Campus. The 159th-ranked Indian meets World No.41 Ye Lin of Singapore in the quarterfinals later today. In the other categories, Sharath made the men`s doubles quarterfinals partering Anthony Amalraj and mixed doubles with Shamini Kumaresan. Kamal-Kumaresan defeated Australia`s David Powell and Jian Fang Lay 11-6 8-11 4-11 13-11 11-7 in the fourth round. They take on England`s Danny Reed and Kelly Sibley later in the day. The pair of Kamal and Amalraj were too good for Ryan Jenkins and Stephen Jenkins of Wales in the men`s doubles. The Indians won the third round match 11-8 11-4 11-9. They next play Englishmen Danny Reed for a place in the semifinals. Harmeet Desai and Soumyajit Ghosh also entered the last eight stage with a 8-11 11-8 11-6 11-5 win over Northern Ireland`s Paul McCreery and Ashley Robinson. They play the formidable Singapore pairing of Gao Ning and Li Hu in the quarterfinals. Kamal, Ghosh and Desai are also scheduled to play their second round matches in the men`s singles.