Women’s TT: India win to chase down South Africa
India win to chase down South Africa, Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula won the opening two matches for India in their Group 2 preliminary round match against South Africa and Fiji with perfect scores of 3-0. They set the tone for the rest of their team, who won by three in other matches to give them a pretty easy victory.
The stars of the game, Manika and Reeth Tennison not only beat their opponents easily, but also took down both South Africa and Fiji for a sweep. All three members of the team won their singles matches in straight games with Sreeja Akula taking out Danisha Patel 3-0.
Reeth and Sreeja of India took on the South African pair Laitaa Edwards and Danisha Jayavant Patel. The duo set the ball rolling early with a tight 15-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-5 victory.
Manika Batra won the first singles game against Musfiquh Kalam with a win margin of 11 to 5, 11 to 3, and 11 to 2.
Sreeja won the second singles match for India by taking down Danisha Patel 3-0. The other two Indian competitors in Group 2 are Guyana and Fiji.
Later that day, Manika defeated Li Carolyn of Fiji 11-2, 11-4, and 11-2 while Sreeja beat Grace Rosi Yee 11-7, 11-1, and 11-2 to secure a 3-0 victory. Diya Parag Chitale helped India win the match by playing with her in the doubles game that won against Titana Toyes and Grace Rosi Yee.
However, Manika Batra said they went in as they wanted to establish their rhythm early against South Africa. It was not too tough, as they went in with the to play their best with the intention of preparing for their next round in advance.
After capturing gold in the table tennis competition of Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018, the highest-seeded Indian woman player is the star attraction of the room. However, Manika said she wasn’t feeling pressure from an increased level of expectation after her Gold Coast victories.
Manika, after the match said that she always goes into a tournament thinking about the fact that this is the first tournament in which new things are happening and past events have no bearing on it. She tries to remain focused despite pressure.
Women athletes are racing with their first Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this week and the team is still new. The Usain Bolt has tried to support women’s athletics on social media.