Indian superstar Manika Batra led from the front as India defeated higher-ranked Romania 3-2 in a thrilling encounter on Monday, advancing to the quarterfinals of the women’s table tennis team competition at the Paris Olympics.
India led 2-0 before Romania fought back to tie the game at 2-2, but Manika delivered in the decider. In the first doubles match, Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath defeated Adina Diaconu and Elizabeta Samara 11-9, 12-10, and 11-7.
Manika defeated Bernadette Szocs 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 in first singles match
Manika easily defeated higher-ranked Bernadette Szocs 11-5 11-7 11-7, giving India a comfortable 2-0 lead over their fourth-seeded opponents. India is seeded eleventh in the competition.
Sreeja, however lost the second singles match to European champion Samara 2-3 (11-8 4-11 11-7 6-11 8-11), despite winning the first game.
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Sreeja’s defeat set up a showdown between Archana and Bernadette, who took the first game 11-5, but the Indian won the second 11-8 to restore parity. Bernadette, on the other hand, won the next two games 11-7 11-9 to win the match and force a tiebreaker.
Manika then overcame Adina 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-9) to turn the tie in favour of India.
India to face either USA or Germany in quarters
India will next face either the United States or Germany in the quarter-finals. Japan, Poland, France and Thailand are also on the same end of the draw.
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Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula last week made history by becoming the first Indian table tennis players to reach the round of 16 in the individual event at the Olympics.
The two, however, were unable to advance beyond that stage, falling to higher-ranked opponents.
