The Indian women's team staged a comeback to defeat Spain 3-2 in their last group game and advance to the knockout phase of the World Table Tennis Team Championships in Busan on February 20.
India overcome early hurdles to triumph against Spain
Although India were considered the stronger team, they faced a tough challenge from the Spaniards. Despite setbacks early on, including losses in the first two singles matches by Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra, the Indian team managed to turn the tide.
Ayhika Mukherjee's win in the third singles match kept India's hopes alive, while Manika and Sreeja returned to the table to clinch victories in the fourth and fifth singles matches, sealing India's progression to the next stage of the tournament.
India clinched the second position in Group 1 with three wins out of four matches. Their sole defeat, although close, was against the formidable Chinese team, despite Ayhika and Sreeja's stunning victories over the world number one and two players, Sun Yinghsa and Wang Yidi, respectively.
India advance to the knockout stage
Among the 40 participating teams, the Indian women's team was one of the 24 sides to advance to the knockout stage. A quarterfinal finish in the tournament would guarantee India a spot in the team event at the Paris Olympics.
To qualify for the Olympics, India must win their round of 32 and subsequent round of 16 matches to advance to the quarterfinals.
In the opening singles match, Sreeja suffered a defeat to Maria Xiao 9-11, 11-9, 11-13, 4-11. Following that, Sofia-Xuan Zhang extended Spain's lead to 2-0 by defeating India's top-ranked player, Manika 13-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7.
Ayhika kept India's hopes alive by defeating Elvira Rad in the third singles match 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4.
Manika then defeated Maria in the fourth singles 11-9, 11-2, 11-4 to make it 2-2. Sreeja sealed the tie with a victory over Sofia-Xuan 11-6, 11-13, 11-6, 11-3.
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