Olympics Table Tennis: Indian Women’s Team falters in quarters against Germany

The Indian women’s table tennis team faced a challenging quarterfinal match against Germany at the Paris Olympics 2024. Unfortunately, they faltered, losing 1-3 to the Rio 2016 silver medalists.

The trio of Archana Kamath, Manika Batra, and Sreeja Akula represented India in the crucial match. India started on a tough note as Sreeja and Archana lost their doubles match to the German pair of Wan Yuan and Shan Xiano (1-3: 5-11, 11-8, 10-12, 6-11).

No medal in Table Tennis for India

Manika Batra began her singles match against Annett Kaufmann with an emphatic opening game win. However, she couldn’t maintain the momentum, eventually losing the match (1-3: 11-8, 5-11, 7-11, 5-11).

Archana Kamath then played against Shan Xiaona to keep India’s hopes alive. Archana fought hard, winning a thrilling first game 19-17 after multiple tiebreaks. Shan responded powerfully in the second game, winning 11-1. The third game saw Archana come back strong, winning 11-5, but Shan took control again in the fourth game, initially leading but eventually losing 11-9 to Archana, keeping India in the tie at 2-1.

The final and decisive match featured Sreeja Akula against Annett Kaufmann. Kaufmann, already in formidable form, continued her winning streak. She took the first game 11-6, followed by a strong performance in the second game, winning 11-7. In the third game, despite Sreeja’s efforts to stay in contention, Kaufmann’s superior play led her to an 11-7 victory, clinching the match and sending Germany into the semifinals with a 3-1 overall score.

With this defeat, India’s campaign in women’s table tennis at the Paris Olympics came to an end.

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