The Indian Women’s Table Tennis lead by Manika Batra has booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics 2024 after beating Romania in a 5-set thriller in their round of 16 fixture. Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath first teamed up in the doubles game followed up by Manika Batra winning her singles fixture as well. However, things got pretty bad for India when both Akula and Kamath lost their singles match which led to their 2 set lead being demolished.
With the scores level at 2-2, momentum was with Romania but Batra soaked in the pressure and pulled an amazing clutch win to get India over the line. (Paris Olympics 2024: Noah Lyles Takes Away Gold By Whisker In Men’s 100m Final – WATCH)
Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath started the proceedings with a 11-9 12-10 11-7 win over Adina Diaconu and Elizabeta Samara in a doubles match.
Manika made short work of higher-ranked Bernadette Szocs in a 11-5 11-7 11-7 victory as India took a comfortable 2-0 lead in the tie against their fourth-seeded opponents. India are seeded 11th in the competition.In the second singles match however, things did not go in India’s favour as Sreeja went down 2-3 (11-8 4-11 11-7 6-11 8-11) to European champion Samara after winning the first game. (India Vs Germany Hockey Semifinal: Men In Blue To Miss Services Of Amit Rohidas Key Player At Paris Olympics 2024)
Sreeja’s defeat paved the way for a face-off between Archana and Bernadette and the latter won the first game 11-5, but the Indian bagged the second 11-8 to restore parity. However, Bernadette won the next two games 11-7 11-9 to clinch the match and send the tie to the decider. Manika then blanked Adina 3-0 (11-5 11-9 11-9) to seal the tie in India’s favour. India will be up against either the USA or Germany in the quarter-finals.
Japan, Poland, France and Thailand are also on the same side of the draw.Last week, both Manika and Sreeja scripted table tennis history by becoming the first Indian players to reach the round of 16 in the individual event at the Olympics. The two, however, could not progress beyond that stage, losing to higher-ranked opponents. (WITH PTI INPUTS)
