Paris: Manika Batra’s brave run in women’s singles came to an end in the pre-quarterfinals with India’s most successful paddler going down to Japan’s eighth-seed Miu Hirano 1-4 in the table tennis competition at the Paris Olympics here on Wednesday.
Manika, who had so far defeated Anna Nurse of Great Britain 4-1 in the opening round and then thrashed France’s Prithika Pavade 4-0 in the Round of 32, went down to her higher-seeded opponent from Japan to end her campaign in Paris. The 29-year-old Manika who was born in New Delhi but is now settled in Pune, lost 6-11, 9-11,14-12,8-11, 6-11 in the 47-minute clash.
Manika mounted a comeback in the second and third games, narrowly losing the second and then coming back to win the third but the higher-ranked Japanese proved too strong and thwarted her attempts in the fourth with another close win.
Earlier, Manika made history by becoming the first Indian female table tennis player to reach the Round of 16 in the Olympics. She was soon joined at that stage by Sreeja Akula, who reached the pre-quarterfinals by beating Singapore’s Zeng Jian.
Manika, ranked 28th in the world, stunned local favourite world No. 18 Prithika Pavade 4-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7) in the South Paris Arena 4 in the French capital late on Monday night.
Sreeja, India’s top-ranked singles player, outplayed the Singaporean paddler Zeng Jian 4-2 (9-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10) win in 51 minutes at the South Paris Arena on Wednesday.
Manika along with Sreeja will next participate in the Women’s Team Competition in which India will take on Romania in the first round.
(IANS)
