Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games 2022: Table tennis team gets India's campaign off to winning start
Manika Batra and company got India's first win of the 2022 CWG with a 3-0 victory over South Africa in the women's team event. The men's team also registered a 3-0 win against Barbados.
Manika Batra (ITTF)
India's women's table tennis team beat South Africa 3-0 to get the country's first win of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The men's team led by Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai also registered a 3-0 win against Barbados.
Sreeja Akula and Reeth Tennison got the first win in a women's doubles match before the Indians rolled over the South Africans in the two singles matches.
Sreeja Akula beat Danisha Patel 11-5, 11-3, 11-6 in the third match after Manika Batra beat Musfiquh Kalam in straight games – 11-5, 11-3, 11-2.
For their next match, India will take on Fiji at 8:30 pm IST on Friday itself. India are looking to match a record medal haul of 8 from the Gold Coast Games.
India are fielding a new look women's team this time around with reigning national champion Sreeja Akula, Reeth Rishya and Diya Chitale joining the 41st-ranked Manika Batra.
India men's team also register dominant win
In a group 3 encounter against minnows Barbados, the pair of Harmeet Desai and G Sathiyan steamrolled Kevin Farley and Tyrese Knight 11-9, 11-9, 11-4 while veteran Sharath Kamal made short work of Ramon Maxwell 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 in less than 15 minutes.
Sathiyan then hardly broke a sweat before disposing off Tyrese Knight 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 to seal the tie.
The men's team will take on Singapore next at 11:00 PM IST.
