Tokyo Olympics: Manika Batra moves ahead to round 2 in women's singles

Manika Batra ended up winning 11-7, 11-6, 12-10, and 11-9.

By Aaryanshi Mohan | Jul 24, 2021 | 2 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Maika Batra redeemed herself after crashing out of the Mixed doubles event of Tokyo Olympics. Batra moved to the next round of the Women’s Singles event after defeating Tin-Tin Ho of Great Britain in 4 straight sets. Batra ended up winning 11-7, 11-6, 12-10, and 11-9.

In the third set, Tin-Tin was attempting a comeback and took an impeccable lead. It was only after Batra composed herself, she came back up from 10-6 to win that round as well.

Earlier in Tokyo Olympics

Indian representation in the mixed doubles event for table tennis, at the Tokyo Olympics, Manika and Sharath end their team mixed doubles journey after losing to Chinese Taipei in the first match in the Round of 16. The star duo succumbed to the third seeds, Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei 4-0.

Manika and Sharath started the round with a few points’ lead but ended up tailing off in the second half of the first round. Ended up losing that 11-8 to Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I-Ching. The performance of the Indian padders from that moment on was just a downward slope. They ended up losing straight sets. This means both of them have been knocked out. The power of 19-year-old Lin from both flanks was too much to handle for Sharath and Manika. They came into the Olympics having won the qualifying competition. (follow sportslumo.com for Olympics update)

Even when Manika used her dynamic long pimpled rubber to break down the opponent’s pace. It was almost like they were impossible to beat. Sharath made sure that all his topspins were on point. However, the Taipei pair was too smooth and fast to fall for the deception. The Taipei players were successful in returning most of the shots played by the Indian pair. Indians could not get their grip on this match.