WTT Contender tournament : India clinches women’s doubles title

Highlights:

• Manika Batra and Archana Girish Kamath from India have won the women’s doubles title at World Table Tennis Contender Lasko 2021.
• Both, Batra & Kamath, are ranked at 36th.
• They beat 23rd ranked Puerto Rico’s Diaz sisters, Adriana and Melanie, in three games at the final on November 7, 2021.
• Indian duo saved four-game points in third set to won the match.
• Manika Batra is an Indian table tennis player. 
• She is the top-ranked female table tennis player from India. 
• As of July 2021, she has been ranked 62nd in the world. 
• In 2020, she was awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna.

• World Table Tennis Championships were started in 1926. 
• Tournament have been held biennially since 1957. 
• Under this, five individual events namely, men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s singles, women’s double and mixed doubles, are currently held in odd numbered years. 
• The World Team Table Tennis Championships, consisting of men’s team events and women’s team events, were first held in 2000. 
• The Team Championships are organised in even numbered years.
• In earlier tournaments, Hungary’s men’s team was a dominant force. 
• They won championships 12 times. 
• During 1950s, Japan was the dominating force. 
• However, 1960s onwards, China emerged as the new dominant power. 
• China’s men’s team is holding a record 20 world team championship titles.