India's Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula bow out of ITTF World Cup 2024 from group stages

Both paddlers finished second in their respective groups.

After winning on the second day of the competition, India’s Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula were eliminated from the ITTF World Cup 2024 on April 17 (Wednesday).

Sreeja Akula started her campaign against Poland’s Natalia Bajor on April 16. Without much trouble, Akula defeated the Polish paddler in straight games, with the scoreline reading 11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5. However, the Indian paddler had a huge challenge in her second match against the former World No. 1 Chen Meng.

The Chinese paddler dominated the game on her serve, as Sreeja Akula also made numerous errors. Failing to win the serve on several occasions, the 25-year-old lost the initial two games with the same scoreline of 4-11, 4-11. She made a comeback in the third game with a 13-15 win.

However, the fourth game turned out to be disastrous for the Indian paddler, as she lost the match 4-11, 4-11, 15-13, 2-11. Sreeja has lost three out of her last five matches across all competitions. On the other side, Manika Batra, who was drawn in Group 2, also got to a winning start in the ITTF World Cup Macao 2024 against Romania’s Adina Diaconu, recording a 3-1 victory.

Batra faced WR2 Wang Manyu in her second game on April 17, which ended up being a one-sided affair in favour of the Chinese paddler. Manyu gave a nearly perfect performance, as she didn’t let Batra capitalise on any of her mistakes.

With the scoreline reading -11, 4-11, 9-11, 3-11, Manika Batra got eliminated from the ITTF World Cup Macao 2024. With that, India’s participation in the tournament came to an end in the group stages itself.

Nevertheless, Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula would look forward to providing a better performance in the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.

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