Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee began their quest for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics berth on winning note as the duo registered comfortable straight-set victories in their respective women's singles knockout stage-I opening round matches at the World Singles Qualification Tournament here on Sunday. Manika dominated proceedings against Bulgaria's Maria Yovkova during her 11-5 11-7 11-4 11-0 win.

While Mukherjee faced some resistance from her opponent Lisa Lung in the fourth game but won the contest 11-3 11-5 11-7 12-10. Meanwhile, Achanta Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan suffered defeats against Italian opponents in their respective men's singles opening matches. While Sathiyan lost to Mihai Bobocica 11-7 11-6 11-8 11-5, seasoned campaigner Sharath also couldn't manage to edge past Niagol Stoyanov as he went down fighting 11-9 6-11 8-11 4-11 11-8 10-12. Both the Indians had received bye in the opening round. Four Indians are participating in the ongoing qualification event, where a total of nine (four men and five women) places are up for grabs and scheduled from March 14-17.