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Indian ace Manika Batra made a strong start in the in ongoing Paris Olympics comes to an end with a 1-4 defeat against Japanese Miu Hirano in the women's singles pre-quarterfinals on July 31 (Wednesday). An error-prone Batra lost 6-11 9-11 11-9 14-12 8-11 6-11 in 47 minutes.
Manika made a strong start against eighth seed Miyu Hirono of Japan but lost the first set 6-11. After this, Mania could not make a comeback in the second set as well and Miyu showed a strong game and won 11-9. Now after trailing 2-0, at one point in the third set, Manika was leading 4-1. But Miyu made a strong comeback and in the end, the score became 10-10. After this, Manika again showed strength and won the third set 14-12.
Batra came into the match having become the first Indian table tennis player to reach the round of 16 at the Olympics following a 4-0 win over France's world number 18 Prithika Pavade on Monday. This is the Indian's fifth successive loss to Hirano.
Manika lost two consecutive sets
After taking a 2-1 lead, the Japanese player was at one point ahead 5-2 in the fourth set. But Manika again made a comeback and made the score 6-6. But in the end, the Japanese paddler made a comeback and won the fourth set 11-8 and took a 3-1 lead. While in the fifth set as well, the Japanese player maintained dominance and won 11-6 to win the match 4-1.
Manika's journey so far
In the Round of 64, Manika Batra was up against Great Britain's Anna Hersey. Manika defeated Great Britain 4-1 in a tough match. After this, in the Round of 32 match, Manika defeated World No. 18 France's Prithika 4-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7) to make it to the Round of 16. With this, Manika became the first Indian table tennis player to reach the pre-quarterfinals of singles in the Paris Olympics. Manika will now be seen playing in the women's team event in the Paris Olympics.
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