India’s table tennis campaign ends at Paris Olympics 2024 as women’s team makes quarterfinal exit
India’s table tennis campaign at the Paris Olympics 2024 has come to an end after the women’s team’s defeat to Germany.
On Wednesday, the Indian women’s team of Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, and Archana Kamath took on the technically superior Germany in the quarterfinals. The trio ended up losing 3-1 to the Rio 2016 silver medallists.
The day began with the Indian pair of Sreeja and Archana losing the opening doubles match 5-11, 11-8, 10-12, 6-11 to Yuan Wan and Xiona Shan. In the first singles contest of the day, teenager Annett Kaufmann came from a game down to win 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 to stun World No. 25 Manika Batra, giving Germany a 2-0 lead in the tie.
World No. 123 Archana brought India back into the contest when she beat the higher ranked (No. 40) Xiona Shan 19-17, 1-11, 11-5, 11-9 in the second singles to take the tie into the fourth match. However, the Germans did not stumble again as Kaufmann defeated Sreeja 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 to progress to the semifinals. With this, India, competing in the team events for the first time at the Olympics, has finished its Paris campaign.
Earlier on Monday, the Indian women’s team defeated the higher-ranked Romania 3-2 in a thrilling tie to enter the quarterfinals. A day later, the Indian men’s team lost 3-0 to China in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the singles, Manika and Sreeja made it to the Round of 16 in the women’s event, becoming the first Indian players to reach that stage in the individual event at the Olympics. They, however, lost to higher-ranked opponents and could not progress further. In the men’s event, five-time Olympian Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai lost in the opening round.
