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The Hindu
The Hindu
Sport
Sports Bureau

Indian men blank Uzbekistan in World team table tennis championships

India’s top paddler Manika Batra lost both her matches as the women’s team went down fighting to fifth seed Germany 2-3 in its opening group match of the World team table tennis championships in Chengdu, China on Saturday. Earlier, the Indian men blanked Uzbekistan 3-0.

After Manika lost her opening rubber to World No. 8 Ying Han, two young paddlers Sreeja Akula and Diya Chitale punched above their weight to script wins over much higher-ranked opponents to give a huge boost to the Indian team's chances.

Sreeja pulled off the biggest victory yet of her nascent career when she defeated World No. 14 Nina Mittelham 11-9, 12-10, 11-7, before Diya attacked relentlessly to script an 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 13-11 win over Sabine Winter, World No. 46.

However, in the fourth rubber, Manika lost to Nina 11-7, 6-11, 7-11, 8-11. In the fifth and deciding rubber, Ying, one of the last surviving defenders on the professional circuit, put it across Sreeja in straight games.

The results:

Men: India bt Uzbekistan 3-0 [Harmeet Desai bt Elmurod Kholikov 11-9, 11-9, 11-1; G. Sathiyan bt Abdulaziz Anorboev 11-3, 11-6, 11-9; Manav Thakkar bt Shokhrukh Iskandarov 11-8, 11-5, 11-5].

Women: Germany bt India 3-2 (Ying Han bt Manika Batra 11-3, 11-1, 11-2; Nina Mittelham lost to Sreeja Akula 9-11, 10-12, 7-11; Sabine Winter lost to Diya Chitale 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-13; Nina bt Manika 7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8; Ying bt Sreeja 11-3, 11-5, 11-4].

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