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Manika Batra had a disappointing outing in the second round of the WTT Star Contender Ljubljana, Slovenia, on Friday.

Manika lost to He Zhuojia of China in straight games 0-3 (9-11, 6-11, 4-11), ending India’s campaign in women’s singles.

The Indian, ranked 47, had shown signs of positivity in the opening round, defeating qualifier Fu Yu 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-5) of Portugal in a one-sided clash.

In the men’s singles, Manav Thakkar was eliminated at the first hurdle, losing to world no 38 Xue Fei of China 0-3 (9-11, 6-11, 9-11).

Earlier, the mixed doubles pair of Manika and Payas Jain also made an early exit. The duo, who reached the main draw after going through the grind in the qualifying rounds, lost to Hong Kong China’s NG Wing Lam and Yiu Kwan To 1-3 (9-11, 12-10, 9-11, 7-11) in the opening round.

Manav-Man exit

The men’s doubles pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah were out at the first hurdle too, losing 1-3 (10-12, 6-11, 11-8, 6-11) to qualifiers Kim Minhyeok and Park Ganghyeon of Korea.

After losing the first two games 10-12, 6-11, Thakkar and Shah recovered slightly by winning the third game 11-8. But failed to stretch their opponents and surrendered meekly, losing the fourth game 6-11.

Last week, the Indian pair had finished runners-up at the WTT Contender Skopje 2025 after losing to South Korea’s Jonghoon Lim and Junsung Oh 0-3 (9-11, 7-11, 9-11) in the final.

There was no Indian entry in the women’s doubles main draw.