Indian women's team register first win, men falter in World Team Table Tennis Championships 2024

Indian women won 3-2 against Hungary

India’s women table tennis team pulled off a thrilling 3-2 win over Hungary in Group 1, while the men’s team suffered a 3-1 defeat to Poland in Group 3 at the World Team Table Tennis Championships 2024 here on Sunday.

The women’s team, led by star paddler Manika Batra, bounced back from their narrow 3-2 loss to the People’s Republic of China in their opening match and clinched a crucial victory over Hungary, who had beaten Spain 3-2 earlier.

Manika, ranked world No. 36, was the hero of the day as she won both her singles matches against the 90th ranked Dora Madarasz and the 56th ranked Georgina Pota. She also sealed the tie for India with a 3-0 (11-5, 14-12, 13-11) win over Pota in the decider.

Ayhika Mukherjee also contributed to the win with a 3-1 (7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8) victory over Bernadett Balint in the third match. Sreeja Akula, however, lost both her matches to Pota and Madarasz.

India’s women will next face Uzbekistan on Monday, hoping to secure a place in the quarter-finals and a team quota for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The men’s team, on the other hand, had a disappointing day as they lost to Poland, who had also beaten Chile 3-0 in their first match. Pols defeated India 3-1.

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Commonwealth Games champion Harmeet Desai was the only Indian to register a win, beating Kubik Maciej 3-1 (12-10, 13-11, 9-11, 11-5) in the second match. He also put up a brave fight against Jakub Dyjas in the fourth match, but lost 3-1 (11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 14-12).

Sharath Kamal, India’s highest-ranked men’s singles player at world No. 95, lost both his matches to Dyjas and Milosz Redzimski. Manav Thakkar also went down to Redzimski in a five-game thriller.

India’s men will face a tough challenge against the Republic of Korea on Monday, needing a win to keep their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals and qualifying for the Paris Olympics alive.

The World Team Table Tennis Championships 2024, which are being held in Busan from Feb 16 to 25, offer up to eight team quotas for the Paris Olympics in each of the two events.

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