ITTF World Team Championships 2022: Manika Batra Loses As India Women Go Down Vs Germany

The Indian men’s team blanked Uzbekistan 3-0 with Harmeet Desai, G Sathiyan and Manav Thakkar winning their respective matches.

PTI

Updated on: 1 October 2022 9:38 am

India's Manika Batra lost against Germany's Ying Han and Nina Mittelham.

Sreeja Ajula and Diya Chitale registered impressive wins but star paddler Manika Batra lost both her fixtures as Indian women lost 2-3 to Germany in their ITTF World Team Championships 2022 opener in Chengdu on Saturday. (More Sports News)

The men's team, on the other hand, blanked Uzbekistan 3-0 in its Group 2 opening clash. Commonwealth Games medallist Batra, ranked 44 in the world, was no match to the world number eight Ying Han, who breezed past the Indian 3-0 (11-3, 11-1, 11-2) to give her side a 1-0 lead.

World number 77 Sreeja then upstaged the higher-ranked Nina Mittelham 3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 11-7) to put India back in the contest. The 122-ranked Diya then gave India the lead with a hard-fought 3-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 13-11) win over Sabine Winter.

Asian Games medallist Batra made a strong start to her second match but couldn't take advantage of the winning momentum as she was handed a 1-3 (11-7, 6-11, 7-11, 8-11) defeat by world number 14 Mittelham as the fixture was tied at 2-2.

However, the 24-year-old Sreeja too was no match to the mighty Ying, the 2016 Rio Olympics team silver medallist, as she also surrendered meekly to the German 0-3 (3-11, 5-11, 4-11) in the decider. Indian women are placed third in Group 5.

Earlier, the men's team was hardly tested by its Uzbek rivals. Harmeet Desai gave India the lead with a 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-1) win over Elmurod Kholikov. G Sathiyan then doubled the lead with a similar 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-9) victory against Abdulaziz Anorboev.

Manav Thakkar sealed the fixture after defeating Shokhrukh Iskandar 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-5). The win puts India in third place in Group 2 behind Germany and France. The Indian men will next face Germany while the women will take on Czech Republic on Sunday.