Table Tennis: Soumyajit Ghosh, Manika Batra book Rio berths

Paddlers Soumyajit Ghosh and Manika Batra ensured Olympic berths by topping their respective groups at the Asian qualifiers in Hong Kong.

With no other country from the region participating in the South Asian Zone qualification event, competition was restricted to the Indian paddlers alone and the four players in each section had to play against one another to grab a spot each.

Ghosh, keeping a clean slate and having won against Achanta Sharath Kamal, Anthony Amalraj and Harmeet Desai, topped the group to go through while Manika and K. Shamini had two wins each. However, Manika edged out Shamini having beaten her in the group match.

It was a bit of a shock as Sharath Kamal managed just one victory — beating Harmeet Desai 11-6, 11-9, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5 — but Ghosh (11-8, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7) and Anthony Amalraj (7-11, 4-1, 11-9, 9-11, 18-16, 11-6, 11-7) won their respective matches against the ace Indian.

Hampered by an injury, Sharath Kamal was not at his best. On the other hand, Ghosh, apart from beating Sharath, accounted for Harmeet (11-6, 11-9, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5) and Amalraj (11-8, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7).

Manika began poorly, losing to Pooja Sahasrabuddhe 7-11, 9-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5, 7-11, but recovered well to down Shamini (4-11, 11-9, 11-3, 15-13, 8-11, 11-9) and Mouma Das (11-5, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6).

Shamini defeated Mouma Das 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-5 and then Pooja 11-9, 11-6, 11-2, 13-11. But what hurt her chances was the loss she suffered to Manika in the second group match.

All though is not lost for ace paddler Sharath Kamal, who will compete in the main Asian qualifiers which begin after the conclusion of other Zone qualifiers.