India Star Manika Batra Loses to Austria's Sofia Polcanova In Round 3 of Table Tennis

Manika Batra was thrashed by Austria’s Sofia Polcanova in Round 3. Batra lost in straight games:- 11-8, 11-2, 11-5, and 11-7 in a match that lasted 27 minutes. A win would have put Batra in the Round of 16 but World No. 16 had no doubts and dominated the match throughout. Earlier today, Sutirtha Mukherjee was also knocked out in straight games by the Portuguese Yu Fu. Veteran Sharath Kamal will face the Chinese Ma Long in Round 3 on 27th July.

India star paddler Manika Batra bowed out of the women’s singles event after losing her Round 3 match against Austria’s Sofia Polcanova here at Tokyo Metropolitan Gym — Table 1 in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics on Monday. Sofia Polcanova defeated Batra 4-0 as the match lasted just 27 minutes.

Batra and Polcanova did exchange some great points to start the match but it was Austrian who prevailed against Manika’s rally and took the first set 11-8. The second set was all Sofia from the start who cleverly neutralized Batra’s reverse spin and took the round in a blink of an eye. The 11-2 set lasted for just 4 minutes.

Batra’s lethal forearm continued to be missing in the third round against the Austrian’s stern defense as she again failed to put any fight and her opponent took the set 11-5.

Meanwhile, Achanta Sharath Kamal progressed to Round 3 of the men’s singles event after defeating Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia. Kamal defeated Tiago 4-2 in Round 2 of the men’s singles event and the entire match lasted for 48 minutes.