Manika wins her tie in the Women’s Team Event Table Tennis; Team India are through to the quarterfinals by beating Romania

Team India beats 4th seeds Romania to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Women’s Team Event Table Tennis by 3-2 in the round of 16 matches.

Paris Olympics: Earlier today, India qualified for the quarterfinals of the Table Tennis Women’s Team Event against 4th seeds Romania. With the lead of 3-2, Manika Batra drives India into top 8 teams to compete for top 3 medals at Paris Olympics.

Team India started their winning streak with 2-0 out of 5 matches, taking up the lead against their Romanian  counterparts. Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath won the 1st duo match against Romanian duo Adina Diaconu and Elizabeta Samara. Effective strategy of Sreeja rotating the defense and Archana’s attack helped them dominate their opponent. Followed by Manika’s splendid and excellent forehand attack combined with on time defense resulted in continuous victory after the 2nd match. 

Soon after Romanian player Elizabeta pips Sreeja in the 3rd (single’s) match. By winning another match against Archana, Bernadette marks a great comeback of Romania into the match boosting up her teammates’ confidence. The winning chance of Team India had been reduced to 50%, rest taken up by the 4th seeds Romania. Romania’s continuous win led the event into decider. 

Manika Batra competes against Adina Diaconu in the decider, marking the high time of the event. Both the players gave their best to secure their spots in the quarterfinals. Manika Batra set up her win in the first set from the get go with 11-5 points. Her rotating defense and attack helped her to win another set. Romania’s chances to win kept decreasing until she made an aggressive comeback in the last set. But to say that luck was not on her side, Batra took the toll on her, prevailing with the minor margin of 11-9. 

Sreeja made her debut in the olympics with a great win but, unfortunately, got eliminated in the round of 16. The 25th ranked player’s journey in the Olympics came to an end after putting up a brave fight against the no.1 player. On the other hand Manika Batra faced defeat in the same round against Japanese counterpart Miu Hirano placing 4th in Women’s individual. Archana Kamath, yet another exemplary Table Tennis player, owned a lot of titles throughout her career. Paris Olympics 2024 marks her debut in olympics. 

Sreeja and Manika scripted history for Table Tennis in India by becoming the 1st Indian women players to reach Round of 16. With the splendid victory in round of 16, Team India sparks new opportunities for Table Tennis in India. Alongside Archana Kamthe, Sreeja and Manika created history once again and elevated Indian Table Tennis to new heights. 

Although Nishant Dev and Lovlina Borgohain lost their opportunities to win a medal for India, the Indian Table Tennis team is all set to secure one more chance to win another medal at the Paris Olympics and potentially the first in Table Tennis. With its impeccable performance against Great Britain, the Indian hockey team gears up to repeat history. Similarly Neeraj Chopra carries the responsibility to perform exemplary and increase the count of medals.