Olympics 2024: Sreeja Akula, Manika Batra advances, Sharath Kamal exits

Indian paddlers Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra advance in table tennis at the Paris Olympics, while Achanta Sharath Kamal suffers a surprising defeat, on Sunday. 

India's top-ranked woman paddler, Sreeja Akula, secured a decisive 4-0 victory over Sweden’s Christina Kallberg. Sreeja, the first Indian to win a WTT Contender singles title, triumphed 11-4, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8 in a match lasting 30 minutes.

Despite a challenging second set and a closely contested third, Sreeja maintained her composure to advance.

Manika Batra also impressed, overcoming Anna Hursey of Great Britain with scores of 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5. 

Manika used her experience to force errors out of the eighteen year old Anna. However she lost the fourth game in a close battle. Manika managed to advance with a dominant fifth game win.

Meanwhile, Achanta Sharath Kamal made an unexpected exit from the men's singles competition. The 42-year-old veteran, ranked 40th in the world, lost 2-4 to Slovenia's Deni Kozul, who is ranked 126th.

Sharath Kamal won the first game 12-10 but struggled in the subsequent sets, ultimately bowing out of the competition after a 53-minute match.

In the final match of the day, Harmeet Desai was up against French teenager and world no.5 Felix Lebrun. 

Although Harmeet played the best he could, Felix was a touch too good and took the match in straight sets (8-11, 8-11, 6-11, 8-11). 

The Indian men's singles journey, with Harmeet's defeat, has come to an end at Paris Olympics.