HOUSTON: Manika Batra is one win away from winning bronze medals on two fronts after reaching the quarter-finals of both the women's and mixed doubles events at the World Table Tennis Championships Finals 2021 in Houston, Texas, on Friday.

In a thrilling round of 16 match, Manika Batra and her mixed doubles partner Sathiyan Gnanasekaran came from two games down to defeat China's Wang Manyu and USA's Kanak Jha 3-2 (15-17, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7) To secure the victory, the Indian duo had to save two match points in the third game.

Manika Batra and G Sathiyan will face Japan's Hina Hayata and Tomokazu Harimoto, the world No. 20 mixed doubles pair, in the last eight.

In the women's doubles, Manika Batra and Archana Kamath defeated Hungary's Dora Madarasz and Georgina Pota 3-1 (11-4, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7) to advance to the quarter-finals against Sarah de Nuette and Xia Lian Ni.

With losing semi-finalists receiving bronze medals at the World Table Tennis Championships Finals in 2021, a win in either of these quarter-final matches guarantees India a medal at the US meet.

India has only two medals from the world table tennis championships, both from the inaugural event in 1926.

Meanwhile, India's other mixed doubles pair, Sharath Kamal and Archana Kamath, were eliminated in the round of 16 after losing 3-0 to French duo Emmanuel Lebesson and Yuan Jia Nan (4-11, 8-11, 5-11).

Edited - SportsAction / Inputs - Agency