Manika Batra led from the front as India prevailed over higher-ranked Romania 3-2 in a thrilling tie and made a memorable entry into the quarter-finals of the women’s table tennis team competition at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
Leading 2-0, India saw Romania fight back to draw level at 2-2, but in the decider, Manika delivered for her side.
Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath started the proceedings with an 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 win over Adina Diaconu and Elizabeta Samara in a doubles match.
Manika made short work of a higher-ranked Bernadette Szocs in a 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 victory as India took a comfortable 2-0 lead in the tie against their fourth-seeded opponents. India are seeded 11th in the competition.
In the second singles match, however, things did not go in India’s favour as Sreeja went down 2-3 (11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 6-11, 8-11) to European champion Samara.
Sreeja’s defeat paved the way for a face-off between Archana and Bernadette and the latter won the first game 11-5, but the Indian bagged the second 11-8 to restore parity. However, Bernadette won the next two games 11-7, 11-9 to clinch the match and send the tie to the decider.
Manika then blanked Adina 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-9) to seal the tie in India’s favour.
India will be up against either the USA or Germany in the quarter-finals.
Japan, Poland, France and Thailand are also on the same side of the draw.
Last week, both Manika and Sreeja scripted the country’s best show in table tennis by becoming the first Indian players to reach the Round of 16 in the individual event at the Olympics. The two, however, could not progress beyond that stage, losing to higher-ranked opponents.
The Japan women’s team, led by bronze medalist Hina Hayata, too cruised into the quarter-finals by beating Poland 3-0.
Unlike the singles and mixed doubles matches, where the winners are determined by the best of seven games, team matches follow a best-of-five format. Each team consists of three players, and matches end when a team has won three games.