Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra secure berth doubles table-tennis spot for Tokyo Olympics

India’s
power table-tennis pair of Manika Batra and Achanta Sharath Kamal stunned the World’s
eight best table-tennis champion Korean Sang-Su Lee and Jihee Jneon by 4-2 in the
mixed doubles final of the Asian Olympic Qualification event in Doha on
Saturday to clinch a quota spot for Tokyo 2020. The mega sports event will be
held from July 23 to August 8 this year.

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Sharath
and Manika had already secured berth in the Tokyo Olympics in the singles table-tennis
category on Thursday but after the feat, they both will represent India as a
doubles pair in the event.

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On the game front, the
tennis players who are India’s bronze medallists from 2018 Asian Games staged a
splendid performance  after being two
sets down to outwit the Korean pair 8-11 6-11 11-5 11-6 13-11 11-8 in a
thrilling final.

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On
Friday, Sharath and Manika had defeated Singapore’s Koen Pang Yew En and Lin Ye
4-2 in the semifinals to get to touching distance of making it to the
showpiece.

On
Thursday, all the four Indian paddlers Sharath, Manika, Gnanasekaran Sathiyan
and Sutirtha Mukherjee had earned themselves singles qualification berths at
the Tokyo Games.

While
Sathiyan and Sutirtha emerged winners in their respective categories of the
South Asian Group, Sharath and Manika sealed Tokyo berths by virtue of being
the highest-ranked second-placed players.