India’s Manika Batra on Sunday pulled off a sensational win in the table tennis event by defeating Ukraine’s Margaryta Pesotska after losing the first two games of the match.
With today’s win, Manika has now advanced to the round of 16, where she will face Austria’s Sofia Polcanova on Monday.
Manika lost the first two games 4-11, 4-11 before she bounced back by winning the next two games 11-7, 12-10. She lost the fifth game 8-11 before wrapping up the match by winning the last two games convincingly 11-5, 11-7.
Manika had refused help from the national coach Soumyadeep Roy after she was not allowed to have access to her personal coach Sanmay Paranjape on the court.
Ranked 61 in the world, Manika’s opponent on Sunday enjoyed the global ranking of 36. Her Monday’s opponent in the round of 16 is ranked 17th in the world.
In 2016, Manika had crashed out of the Rio Olympics after she lost her first-round match.
India has so far won one silver medal in the games after Mirabai Chanu became the first weightlifter since Karnam Malleswari to win a medal in Olympics since 2000.
LIVE UPDATES on Indians’ performance will appear below:
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