Sreeja Akula, Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra in World Table Tennis Championships finals

Lusail (Qatar)

Sreeja Akula, Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra qualified for the singles events of the Durban World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) Finals in May, overcoming strong challenges in the Round-of-16 matches of the Asian WTTC Continental Stage 2023 tournament here today. Sreeja defeated Chen Szu-Yu of Chinese Taipei 11-2 5-11 2-11 5-11 13-11 11-9 11-8), while Sharath Kamal overcame Iran’s Ahmadian Amin 13-11 11-3 10-12 11-7 11-6. Manika Batra thumped Zhu Chengzhu of Hong Kong 13-11 11-9 11-6 11-8.

Melbourne

Australia name spin-heavy squad for Test tour of India

Uncapped off-spinner Todd Murphy, with all of seven match First-Class experience, received his maiden Test call-up as Australia on announced a spin-heavy squad for their upcoming four-Test series in India, starting February 9. Squad: Pat Cummins(c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.

ADELAIDE

Garcia survives Siniakova battle at Adelaide Int’l

Caroline Garcia, the top remaining seed at the Adelaide International 2, earned a hard-fought 6-3 3-6 7-5 victory over Katerina Siniakova to reach the quarterfinals today. She will next face Belinda Bencic.

Ninth seed Paula Badosa also sealed a quarters berth with a 6-1 7-5 win over Kaia Kanepi. — Agencies

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