WTT Star Contender: Sutirtha, Ahyika make winning starts

Doha, March 6 (IANS) Indian paddlers Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ahyika Mukherjee started their campaign at WTT Star Contender Doha with comfortable wins in women's singles qualifying Round One on Saturday.While world No. 95 Sutirtha registered a dominating 11-9, 11-3, 11-6 victory over her opponent Ala Mohamed from Qatar, world No. 131 Ahyika notched up an easy 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 win over Qatar's Maha Faramarzi. With these wins, both the players moved into the second qualifying round of the tournament. Meanwhile, bronze medallist at the recently concluded National Championship Sreeja Akula went down fighting in a 5-gamer against Japan's Sakura Yokoi. She was seen trailing by 2-1 before making a strong comeback to make it 2-2. However Akula couldn't sustain the momentum and lost the match 12-10, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 6-11. On Saturday night, Diya Chitale and Archana Kamath will be in action in the women's singles qualifying round one. Among men, world No.73 Harmeet Desai and world No.99 Anthony Amalraj will begin their campaign in the first round in the singles qualifying. Achanta Sharath Kamal and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, who are ranked 32 and 37 in the world respectively, have received direct entry into the men's singles main draw while world No.63 Manika Batra has also earned a place in the women's singles main draw.

In the mixed-doubles category, Indian pair of Manika Batra and Achanta Sharath Kamal, who received bye in the first qualifying round, will begin their campaign in the second on Sunday.
--IANS qma/