NewKerala.com Logo

India's campaign ends at ITTF World Cup 2025 as Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula exit in Group Stage

ANI April 17, 2025 200 views

India's table tennis hopes at the ITTF World Cup 2025 have been dashed after Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula failed to advance from their respective groups in Macau. Both Olympians were defeated by higher-ranked international players, with Batra losing to Brazil's Bruna Takahashi and Akula falling to Romania's Bernadette Szocs. The tournament continues with knockout stages, but India will not have any representatives. This continues India's historical challenge of securing medals in the ITTF World Cup competition.

"No medal in table tennis at the ITTF World Cup yet" - Tournament Overview"
Macau, April 16: India's challenge at the ITTF World Cup 2025 came to an early end on Wednesday, as Paris 2024 Olympians Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula failed to advance beyond the group stage of the prestigious table tennis tournament in Macao, as per the official website of Olympics.com

Key Points

1

Manika Batra loses to Brazil's Bruna Takahashi in Group 16 match

2

Sreeja Akula defeated by Romania's Bernadette Szocs

3

India exits tournament without knockout stage progression

4

First Olympic participants fail to break through

World No. 30 Manika Batra was knocked out after losing her Group 16 encounter to Brazil's Bruna Takahashi, ranked 24th in the world. The Brazilian emerged victorious with a 3-1 scoreline (13-11, 11-8, 11-4, 10-12). This marked Takahashi's second career win over Manika, having previously defeated the Indian 4-3 in the opening round of the 2021 World Championships--their only other meeting before today.

In Group 9, Sreeja Akula, ranked 35th and a Commonwealth Games gold medallist in mixed doubles, was outclassed 4-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8) by Romania's Bernadette Szocs. The three-time Olympian and reigning European Games champion Szocs topped her group without dropping a single game, having also defeated Australia's Constantina Psihogios 4-0 (11-6, 11-1, 12-10, 11-3) earlier in the competition.

ITTF World Cup is being conducted in two stages - group matches and knockouts.

Both Akula and Batra finished runners-up in Group 9 and Group 16, respectively, and failed to progress to the knockouts.

The knockout stage is scheduled to begin on Thursday and will be held in a best-of-seven games format. The ITTF World Cup 2025 ends on Sunday.

India have never won a medal in table tennis at the ITTF World Cup.

Earlier, the world number 30th Manika defeated the world number 186 Maylis Giret of New Caledonia 4-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-6, 11-4) in the Group 16 match, the world number 34 Akula beat Australia's Constantina Psihogios, 68th in the women's singles table tennis rankings, 3-1 (11-9, 11-4, 11-8, 6-11), as per Olympics.com.

The men's and women's players have been divided into 16 groups featuring three players each and the group toppers will make it to the knockouts.

India does not have any participants in the men's draw.

The group stage matches have four games each and players will be ranked based on the overall win-loss ratio across both fixtures and players with the best ratio in terms of games won across both their matches will qualify for the knockouts.

Reader Comments

R
Rahul K.
Tough day for Indian table tennis 😔 Manika and Sreeja fought hard but the competition was just too strong this time. We'll come back stronger! 🇮🇳
P
Priya M.
Manika's match against Takahashi was so close in the first two games! That 13-11 opener could have gone either way. Proud of our girls for competing at this level 👏
A
Ankit S.
Disappointing result but let's be honest - we need more investment in table tennis infrastructure. Other countries have better training systems and it shows. Constructive criticism!
S
Sneha P.
Bernadette Szocs is a beast! No shame in losing to her - she didn't drop a single game the whole group stage. Sreeja will learn from this experience 💪
V
Vikram J.
That win against Giret showed Manika's potential when she's on form. Consistency against top players is what we need to work on. The future is bright though! ✨
N
Neha T.
At least they made it to the World Cup! That's an achievement in itself. Most countries don't even have players at this level. Keep supporting our athletes ❤️

We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.

Leave a Comment

Your email won't be published

Disclaimer: Comments are the opinions of users and not of this website or it's staff. News stories are provided by news agencies. We do not guarantee their accuracy. Inappropriate content may be removed. By posting, you agree to our terms.

Tags:
ITTF World Cup 2025 Manika Batra Sreeja Akula Table Tennis Indian Sports Olympic Athletes
You May Like!