Big blow to the hopes of Indian fans, Manika Batra lost in the third round of table tennis

Indian player Manika Batra crashed out of the Tokyo Olympic Games table tennis event in the women’s singles after a straight-game loss to Austria’s Sofia Polkanova here on Monday. Manika, who had earlier defeated higher-ranked players, had no answer to the controlled and powerful game of world number 16 Polkanova. They lost the match 0-4 (8-11, 2-11, 5-11, 7-11). Manika had earlier crashed out in mixed doubles with Achanta Sharath Kamal. On the other hand, Achanta Sharath Kamal, playing his fourth Olympics in table tennis, made a good comeback from the start but entered the third round of men’s singles in the table tennis competition of Tokyo Olympic Games here on Monday but Sutirtha Mukherjee in women’s singles. Lost in straight games. Sharath Kamal defeated 20th seed Tiago Apollonia of Portugal 4-2 (2-11, 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9) in a match that lasted 49 minutes. He will face a tough challenge from defending champion Ma Long of China in the third round on Tuesday. Long is also the current world champion. He has won every title related to this sport. Now India’s hope rests on Sharath Kamal. It has to be seen whether Sharath can get India a medal in table tennis or not.