3 Indians join Manika in singles main draw ITTF World C'ships

Three Indian women paddlers on Monday qualified for the main draw of ITTF World Championships on the second day of the competition at Budapest.

Suthirta Mukherjee, Madhurika Patkar and Archana Kamath have joined Manika Batra in the main draw of women's singles, while Anthony Amalraj and Manav Thakkar are just a match away from making the cut in the men's singles.

Madhurika defeated Catherine Spicer of Trinidad and Tobago 11-3, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6, while Suthirta beat Rachel Moret of Switzerland 14-12, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9 and Archana overcame Slovak's Eva Odorova 4-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 to top their respective groups.

Manika, because of her world rankings, was one of the top 64 women paddlers who had received direct entry into the second stage.

In men's singles qualification, Amalraj and Manav had topped their respective groups but will have to play their preliminary round to make the main draw, where they could join G Sathiyan and A Sharath Kamal.

Manav defeated Nicholas Tio of the US 11-6, 11-9, 13-11, 12-14, 11-3 to secure the top place in the group.

Amalraj, who got a walkover on Sunday, had to just win a match against Allan Gutierrez from Gautemala which he accomplished with ease, winning the second group match 11-6, 11-3, 11-6, 11-7.

The preliminary matches that will decide the fate of the two Indians are slated later on Monday night with Amalraj taking on Tom Jarvis of England and Manav facing Leonardo Mutti of Italy.

The two Indian men's doubles pairs of Sathiyan and Sharath, and Manav Thakkar and Amalraj have received direct entries into the main draw but in women's doubles, only the first Indian pair of Manika Batra and Archana have been given the privilege.

The second duo of Suthirta and Madhurika has to qualify against Lativa's Sabina Musajeva and Inta Zdanovska to book their second stage slot.