Reigning national champion Sreeja Akula entered the women's singles round of 16 with a hard-fought 4-1 win over Malaysia's Karen Lyne in the table tennis competition of the Commonwealth Games on Thursday.
Lyne had stunned defending champion Manika Batra in the team event here with India going down in the quarterfinals. India are looking to make up for that shock loss in the singles and doubles events.
Sreeja beat Lyne 12-10, 12-10, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8 in a round of 32 contest.
Her teammate Reeth Rishya, however, went down to England's Charlotte Bardsley 1-4 in the round of 32.
India's star player Manika will play Canada's Fu Ching Nam on Thursday night.
In para table tennis, Paralympic silver medallist Bhavina Patel cruised to a 3-0 win over Akanisi Latu of Fiji in a class 3-5 group match.
The Indian mixed pair of Sanil Shetty and Reeth Tennison went down to the Malaysian pair of Wong Qi Shen and Tee Ai Xin 6-11 10-12 13-11 11-8, 8-11 in a round of 64 match.
The Indians were caught off guard as they lost the first two games but bounced back to clinch the next two and took the match to the decider.
