Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra started their ITTF World Cup campaigns with opposing victories in their first group round matches on Tuesday.
Indian athletes have displayed exemplary fitness and athleticism to grab 40 precious quotas for the Paris Olympics till now.
Politicians from more than 30 nations opposed the return of the athletes from the two countries. Whereas Ukraine threatened a boycott.
Sharath is not out of the race to make it to the top to contest for the Medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Batra was put under pressure from the get-go as she competed against Sofia Polcanova of Austria. The Austrian won the first three sets as Batra tried to gain her composure.
Batra staged a comeback in Games 3 and 4, bringing the match into an exciting position. It was perhaps the one-minute break that Batra took.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran held a 2-0 head-to-head lead over his 24-year-old opponent at the beginning of the match. However, there was a definite shift of dynamics in the game as Siu H...