Manav-Manush enter quarters at WTT Star Contender Goa

Jeet Chandra went down 5-11, 8-11, 4-11 to Alvaro Robles of Spain in the first round of the mens singles event while Ajali Rohilla fought an uphill battle against Lee Eunhye of South Korea before losing 5-11, 10-12, 3-11 in a womens singles match.Nithya Mani also lost to Thailands Orawan Paranang 15-13, 8-11, 2-11, 7-11.

The Indian duo of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah sailed into the men's doubles quarterfinals of the WTT Star Contender Goa with a comfortable victory over Pang Yew En Koen and Avatar Quek Izaac of Indonesia here on Thursday.

Gujarat's Thakar and Shah dominated their opponents 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 in front of a cheering crowd in the round-of-16 match.

Maharashtra's Taneesha Kotecha and Sayali Wani brought further cheer to the Indian camp by entering the last-eight stage in the women's doubles event. They saw off a strong challenge from Christina Kallberg and Filippa Bergand of Sweden to notch up a 11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-7 victory.

They will face Jeon Jihee and Shin Yubin of South Korea in the quarterfinals. The pair from South Korea had got the better of Barbora Balazova and Tatiana Kukulkova of Slovakia 11-9, 11-6, 11-3 in its opening round clash.

In women's singles, Archana Kamath entered the round-of-32 by defeating Maria Xiao of Spain 11-7, 13-11, 12-10 in the opening round.

Sreeja Akula gave more reason to cheer to the Indian fans by defeating Camille Lutz of France 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8 in another first round women's singles contest. The Indian star will play Egypt's Hana Goda in the second round.

In men's singles, Harmeet Desai crashed out in the first round itself as he went down 11-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11 to Andrej Gacina of Croatia.

It was an exciting contest between two experienced contenders and kept the crowd at the edge of their seats with its plethora of hard-fought rallies and intense action. Jeet Chandra went down 5-11, 8-11, 4-11 to Alvaro Robles of Spain in the first round of the men's singles event while Ajali Rohilla fought an uphill battle against Lee Eunhye of South Korea before losing 5-11, 10-12, 3-11 in a women's singles match.

Nithya Mani also lost to Thailand's Orawan Paranang 15-13, 8-11, 2-11, 7-11.