Table Tennis at Tokyo Olympics 2020: Indian challenge in women’s singles ends as Manika Batra crashes out in round three


Table Tennis at Tokyo Olympics 2020: Indian challenge in women’s singles ends as Manika Batra crashes out in round three

Manika Batra

Manika Batra‘s journey at the Tokyo Olympics has come to an end as she crashed out in the third round. Batra was outdone by 10th seed Sofia Polkanova of Austria. Polkanova, who was making a comeback from a knee surgery, was exceptional as she advanced to the Round of 16 by winning four straight sets.

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Batra looked confident at the start of every set only to be trodden offer by the confident Austrian. The fact that she didn’t have a coach in her corner, while her opponent had two, made a huge impact on Batra’s performance. Nonetheless, she has scripted history by making it to the third round and that should help the talented paddler in her future endevours.

Manika Batra falters in the third round

Manika Batra
Manika

Manika Batra’s forehand abandoned her in a crucial encounter as she struggled to gain her rhythm. Had she won the games, Batra would have become the first Indian paddler to make it to the Round of 16 of the event at the Summer Games. But the Commonwealth Games medalist failed to bring her A-game as her journey at the Tokyo Games come to an end.

Sutirtha Mukherjee’s challenge at the Tokyo 2020 has come to an end in the second round. She bowed out of the event after being decimated by Portugal’s Fu Yu. On the other hand, Indian table tennis’ poster boy Sharath Kamal has got off to an impressive start at the Tokyo Games as he won his opening encounter against Tiago Apolonia of Portugal.

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