WTT Star Contender Goa: Nithya Mani among seven Indians to reach main draw

Former Indian U-19 champion Nithya Mani upstaged a number of her more established compatriots as she became only Indian singles player to advance through qualifying into the main draw of WTT Star Contender 2024 at the Peddem Indoor stadium in Mapusa on Wednesday. The Chennai-based 21-year-old who is ranked 254 ^th in the world fought back from a 2-1 deficit against England’s three-time Commonwealth Games medallist and World No. 150 Ho Tin-Tin to win 11-7, 6-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7 in the final round of the women’s singles category.

A total of seven Indians made it to the main draw through the qualifying rounds (Jeet Chandra and Paras Jain in men’s doubles, Taneesha Kotecha and Sayali Wani in women’s doubles, Manush Shah and Diya Chitale in mixed doubles and Mani in the women’s singles), it was only Mani who beat an non-Indian opponent to reach the main draw

Mani would say her calmness while trailing against the English player was what she was most proud of. “When I was 2-1 down I didn’t get more panicked. I didn’t show any emotions. I stayed calm for each point. I’m usually a person who expresses a lot. So for me to stay calm on the table can be challenging. When things don’t go our way is when we have to stay calm and I think I was able to do that today,” she said.

Mani set up a clash against World No. 39 Orawan Paranang. Although the Thai player is the highest-ranked player Mani has ever encountered, she says she is raring to go. “She is a really good player. But I know that if I stick to the tactics and play according to my plan, I can do well. Ultimately we want to play against these players. We want to play at the highest level. So hopefully I’ll get to play more of these matches in the future,” she said.

While Mani pushed herself to the main draw, several other top-rated Indians fell short. National Champion Ayhika Mukherjee lost to Turkey’s Sibel Altinkaya 11-5, 9-11, 6-11, 6-11. Sutirtha Mukherjee, who had partnered Ayhika to the Asian Games bronze also lost 8-11, 7-11, 12-10, 4-11 to Japan’s Ryu Hana. India’s former top-ranked men’s singles player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran also saw his singles campaign end with a 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7, 8-11 loss to France’s Vincent Picard.