Table Tennis
World Table Tennis Team C'ships: Indian women's team loses in pre-quarters, Olympic hope remains alive
Though the India women's team exited the tournament, losing to Chinese Taipei in the pre-quarterfinals, it will earn crucial rankings points for winning four in five ties. It should help the team qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics at the end of February.
Only Manika Batra managed to win a match against Chinese Taipei in the pre-quarterfinals of the World Table Tennis Team Championships on February 21 in Busan. (Source: Getty)
The Indian women's team missed out on a direct 2024 Paris Olympic quota place as it went down to Chinese Taipei in the pre-quarterfinals of the World Table Tennis Team Championships in Busan, South Korea, on Wednesday.
The Chinese Taipei side booked its spot in the Games for making it to the quarterfinals at the Championships.
Playing for the second time today, India, who defeated Italy 3-0 in Round of 32, managed to claim only one game off Chinese Taipei when Manika Batra beat Chen Szu-Yu in a five-game (11-8,8-11,4-11,11-9,11-9) thriller.
However, the national women's team could not capitalise on the 1-0 lead when Sreeja Akula went down to Cheng I-Ching in straight games (6-11,9-11,5-11) as Chinese Taipei drew level in the tie.
Li Yu-Jhun then extended Chinese Taipei's lead to 2-1 with a 12-10, 15-13, 9-11, 11-2 win over Ayhika Mukherjee.
Batra, playing the fourth match of the tie against Cheng I-Ching, managed to draw level in the second game but could not force the decider as she succumbed to a 10-12,11-5,9-11,5-11 defeat.
India, however, earned crucial ranking points in the tournament beating Hungary, Spain, and Uzbekistan at the group stage and Italy in the Round of 32.
The rankings points should help India to qualify for the Paris Olympics by the end of February.
