Manav Thakkar joins UP Prometheans with Yang Liu, while Divya Chitale remains the highest-valued Indian player at the UTT auction. Bernadette Szocs tops the auction, joining Dempo Goa Challengers. The seventh season will be held in Goa from July 9-26.
India's table tennis star Manika Batra produced a dominant performance to defeat America's Lily Zhang 3-0 to advance into the women's singles pre-quarterfinals of the WTT Champions in Montpellier, France on Wednesday.
It was a mixed day for India as several others, including G Sathiyan crashed out of the tournament.
National champion Harmeet Desai, ranked 86th in the world in men's singles, is seeded 49th. He will make his Olympic debut.
India's Manika Batra and Mouma Das lost 3-0 to Tianwei Feng and Mengyu Yu of Singapore in the women's sinlges final.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) CEO Raghuram Iyer announced that India will send 125-130 athletes to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, participating in eight able-bodied and four para sports. The IOA is also preparing for the Asian Games and is in talks with the IOC for India's 2036 Olympic bid in Ahmedabad, which is also set to host the 2030 CWG. Iyer clarified that the IOA will not interfere in athlete selection matters.
Ace Indian paddler and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra will take on Great Britain's Anna Hursey in the women's singles opening round
Manika Batra is the first Indian woman paddler to break into the top-25 in table tennis world rankings.
Manika Batra thanked aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and his office for their 'prompt' action.
Manika Batra is the first Indian player to make it to the top eight of a WTT Champions tournament.
With PBG Bengaluru Smashers needing just one point to win the contest, USA paddler Lily Zhang beat Puneri Paltan's Yashini Sivashankar to get her team over the line.
While Sharath lost on Monday, Sathiyan could not do much against the mighty world number nine Dang Qiu of Germany, losing 6-11, 6-11, 5-11, 7-11 on Tuesday.
Later in the day, the Indian women's doubles pair of Diya Chitale and Sreeja Akula will take on Korean combination of Jihee Jeon and Shin Yubin in the semi-finals.
The star Indian paddler is not taking too much pressure and wants to keep her focus.
In the men's doubles, Indian duo of Manav Vikash Thakkar and Manush Utpalbhai Shah defeated Mohamed Shaffan Ismail and Moosa Munsif Ahmed of the Maldives 3-1 (11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-2) to enter the round of 16.
Star paddler Manika Batra played a crucial part as PBG Bengaluru Smashers defeated Jaipur Patriots 11-4 to take a significant step towards playoff qualification in the IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis tournament on Thursday.
Manika Batra went down fighting to Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico 3-4 in the round of 32 at the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban.
Manika Batra led from the front as India prevailed over higher-ranked Romania 3-2 in a thrilling tie
Commonwealth Games gold medalist Manika Batra said reading books, meditation, and watching TV series are some of the activities which is helping her spend time during the coronavirus enforced nationwide lockdown. The Indian table tennis star also stressed the importance of working on physical fitness and staying positive as the country continues to reel under the pandemic.
Manika Batra has become the first Indian woman table tennis player to enter the quarterfinals of an elite WTT event following her victory over world number 14 Nina Mittelham at the Grand Smash event in Jeddah.
Veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal made a shock exit from the Paris Olympics men's singles competition.
Veteran Sharath Kamal and world no. 24 Manika Batra will lead the Indian men's and women's squads respectively at the Paris Games, where the country will make its Olympic debut in team events.
Manika Batra shocked World No. 2 Wang Manyu of China to secure the biggest win of her singles career.
India's tally to two medals with one silver and one bronze.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra progressed to the women's singles quarter-finals but veterans Sharath Kamal and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan crashed out.
In the semi-finals, Manika will meet the winner of the match between Korea's Jeon Jihee and Japan's Mima Ito.
Manika, the highest ranked Indian in women's singles, got off to a flying start early in the first session, defeating 152nd ranked Englishwoman Ho Tin-Tin 3-0 (11-4,11-8,11-5).
Indian ace Manika Batra's impressive run in the Paris Olympics came to an end in Paris on Wednesday with a 1-4 defeat at the hands of higher-ranked Japanese Miu Hirano in the women's singles pre-quarterfinals.
Janendra Jain and Parth Goswami are the two lawyers in the panel while Yashpal Rana is the other member.
Manika Batra was knocked out of the World Singles Olympic Qualification Tournament after she suffered a 1-4 defeat to Monaco's Xiaoxin Yang in the women's singles stage-I semi-final match in Doha on Monday.
Manika Batra's sensational run at the Commonwealth Games fetched her another medal on Sunday. Teaming up with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran she bagged the mixed doubles bronze, thereby winning a medal in every event she competed in at the Gold Coast Games .
Manika Batra and Archana Kamath defeated Hungary's Dora Madarasz and Georgina Pota 11-4, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7 in the women's doubles round of 16.
India's World Cup winning captains -- Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepika T C and Rohit Sharma -- were honoured by the Reliance Foundation in Mumbai on Monday.
'We both are really working hard, and, of course there are many things on which we are focussing right now, on and off the table.'
India's Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran tasted instant success on their return as a mixed doubles pairing by winning the title at the WTT Contender in Budapest on Friday.
Can see growth, especially in women's table tennis in India: Manika Batra on UTT
The Indians had to make the 5-1 lead count in the first game to have any chance in the match but Lin and Cheng won eight points in a row to gain control.
Sathiyan and Batra defeated Thailand's Napat Thanmathikom and Suthasini Sawettabut 10-12, 11-8, 11-3, 11-8.
Her personal coach Sanmay Paranjape was controversially cleared to travel with her to the Tokyo, but not allowed to stay at the Games Village with the national team.
