India women’s table tennis team loses in QFs vs Germany© AFP
Archana Kamath gave a brief resistance but that was not enough as India lost 1-3 to technically superior Germany in the women’s table tennis team event quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics on Wednesday. Indian table tennis campaign ended with the loss. The Indian duo of Sreeja Akula and Archana lost the opening doubles match 5-11 11-8 10-12 6-11 to the German pair of Yuan Wan and Xiona Shan. Sreeja and Archana were holding the fort till the third game but they lost it in deuce. Thereafter, they lost the match.
In the first singles, star Indian Manika Batra was not at her best as she won the first game but lost the next three (11-8 5-11 7-11 5-11) against Annett Kaufmann as Germany took 2-0 lead in the tie.
It was at this point that Archana gave India a glimmer of hope as she held off Germany charge briefly with a 19-17 1-11 11-5 11-9 win over Xiona Shan in the second singles.
But in the third singles, Kaufmann blanked Sreeja 11-6 11-7 11-7 to seal the tie for Germany and book a semifinal berth.
On Monday, the Indian women’s team comprising Manika, Sreeja and Archana had prevailed over higher-ranked Romania 3-2 in a thrilling tie to enter the quarterfinals.
On Tuesday, the Indian men’s team led by veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal had suffered a 0-3 loss to mighty China in the pre-quarterfinals.
Both Manika and Sreeja had scripted table tennis history by becoming the first Indian players to reach the round of 16 in the individual event at the Olympics. The two, however, could not progress beyond that stage, losing to higher-ranked opponents.
The Paris Games marked the first time that India competed in the team event at the Olympics. The men’s and women’s team events in table tennis were introduced at the 2008 Beijing Games.
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