India women came from behind to beat Spain 3-2 in their final group game and progressed to the knock-out phase of the Word Table Tennis Team Championships here on Tuesday.

India, the stronger team on paper, were pushed against the wall but found a way to scrape past the Spaniards after Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra lost the first two singles.

After Ayhika Mukherjee kept India in the contest with a win in the third singles, Manika and Sreeja returned to get the job done in the fourth and fifth singles.

India finished second behind China in Group 1 with three wins in four games. They were among the 24 sides to qualify for the knockout phase. A quarter-final finish will assure India of a place in the team event of the Paris Olympics.

Sreeja lost to Maria Xiao 9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 4-11. Sofia-Xuan Zhang made it 2-0 for Spain with a 13-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 win over Manika.

Ayhika got past Elvira Rad 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4 in the third singles.

Manika then returned to blank Maria in the fourth singles 11-9, 11-2, 11-4 to make it 2-2. Sreeja sealed the tie with an 11-6, 11-13, 11-6, 11-3 win over Sofia-Xuan.