In a pitched battle, Sreeja and Diya lost the first set but fought back to win the next two sets to take a 2-1 lead
Release date – Friday 23rd – 09:35pm – June 30th
Zagreb: India’s women’s doubles duo Dia Chitale/Srija Akula continued their impressive run on Friday, breaking into the WTT Challengers with a 3-2 win over Singapore’s Huang Xinru/Zeng Jian semi-finals of the tournament.
In a tight fight, Sreeja and Diya lost the first set but fought back hard in the next two sets to take a 2-1 lead.
However, the Singaporean duo leveled the score before Srija and Dia showed good composure, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 5-0 in a match that lasted just over 39 minutes. 11, 11-8 to seal the victory. The Indian duo will face Thailand’s Sutashini Savithaput and Orawan Baranan in the women’s doubles summit.
India’s top-ranked women’s rower, Manika Batra, advanced to the quarter-finals by beating Croatia’s Hana Arapovic 3-1 earlier on Thursday.
World No. 38 Bartra fought back after losing the first game to seal the victory 6-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-1 in 28 minutes.
However, another Indian woman, Sudisha Mukherjee, lost 3-0 to Korea’s Yang Haeun in the singles match. He En won 11-5, 11-5, 11-6.
This day belonged to the young Indian duo Srija and Diya, who defeated the Chinese American duo Zhang Lili and Song Ruiqiu in a fierce competition to enter the quarterfinals. The Indian duo won 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9 in less than 30 minutes.
Another Indian duo, Sudita Mukherjee/Ishika Mukherjee, who performed well in the WTT event in Tunisia, lost 1-3 to the local pair Ivana Marobabich/Matja Yeh Geer. The Croatian combination won 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9.
In men’s doubles, veteran Arshanta Saras Kamal and in-form Hamet Desai faced fierce competition in the first game, and finally lost 0-3 to Chinese pair Lin Gaoyuan/Liang Jingkun.
The Indians lost 11-13, 5-11, 4-11. In mixed doubles, Batra, who was partnered with G Sathiyan, lost to South Korea’s Lee Sian and Cho Seung-min in a grueling five-match series before the quarter-finals.
The game lasted nearly 50 minutes, and South Korea won 11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-8, 13-11.
