India’s star paddler Manika Batra has kept her knockout hopes alive at the ITTF Table Tennis World Cup, after she clinched a hard-fought win in Macau, China on Tuesday.
Manika defeated USA’s Lily Zhang 3-2 (11-7, 11-2, 14-16, 5-11, 11-6) in 43-minute Group 4 clash. The three-time Olympian had lost her opening match against Japan’s Miwa Harimoto.
In another match at the ITTF Table Tennis World Cup, world No. 43 Sreeja Akula suffered a 1-3 (11-8, 9-11, 13-15, 8-11) loss to Portugal’s Fu Yu in her Group 2 opener. She will next face China’s world No. 2 Wang Manyu on Wednesday.
In the men’s draw, India’s Manav Thakkar faces a must-win situation against Sweden’s Olympic silver medallist Truls Moregard in Group 2 after going down 0-3 to Korea’s Park Gang-hyeon in his opening match.
In her opening match of the tournament, Manika lost 0-3 (16-18, 4-11, 6-11) to Harimoto in a 31-minute clash, while in men’s singles Thakkar fell to a 0-3 (7-11, 6-11, 8-11) defeat to Park Gang-hyeon in a match that lasted less than 20 minutes.
Across the 16 groups in men’s and women’s singles, only the table toppers will advance to the Round of 16.
