Budapest, Aug 18 (PTI) Tokyo Olympic-returned Indian paddlers Sathiyan Gunnasekaran and Manika Batra entered the pre-quarterfinals of their respective events at the WTT Contender Budapest 2021 tournament here.

While Gunnasekaran beat France's Can Akkuzu 3-1 (14-12 11-5 7-11 11-4) in the men's singles opening round, Manika got the better of Sabina Winter of Germany 3-2 (8-11 11-7 11-6 15-13 11-5).

Also Read | Benfica vs PSV, UEFA Champions League 2021-22 Live Streaming Online: Where To Watch UCL Playoff Match Live Telecast on TV & Free Football Score Updates in India?.

In the next round, Gunnasekaran will be up against Niagol Stoyanov of Italy, while Manika will play Italy's Giorgia Piccolin.

Among other Indians in fray, Harmeet Desai also progressed to the men's singles second round, beating Csaba Andras of Hungary 3-2 (6-11 7-11 13-11 11-7 11-4), while Manav Thakkar beat Pavel Platanov of Belarus 3-0 (12-10 11-9 11-6).

Also Read | Bengaluru FC vs ATK Mohun Bagan, AFC Cup 2021 Live Streaming Online on Disney+Hotstar: Watch Free Telecast of BFC vs ATKMB Football Match.

Harmeet will Dang Qiu of Germany in the next round, while Manav will be up against Kirill Skachkov of Russia.

Among other Indian women in the competition, Archana Kamath also entered the second round with a 3-2 (11-8 11-9 6-11 5-11 11-9) win over Yana Noskova of Russia.

Archana will next play another Russian in Mariia Tailakova.

Sreeja Akula is the other Indian woman paddler to move into the round of 16 with a 3-2 (11-8 6-11 14-12 2-11 11-7) win over Linda Bergstrom of Sweden.

She will next face Barbora Balazova of Slovakia.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)