Table Tennis
ITTF World Cup 2026: Manav Thakkar, Manika Batra off to disappointing start
Manav lost to South Korea’s Park Ganghyeon and Manika lost to Japanese world No. 5 Miwa Harimoto in the group stage.
Manika Batra. (Photo Credits: WTT)
Indian table tennis players including manav Thakkar and Manika Batra started their ITTF World Cup 2026 on a disappointing note, losing their respective opening group matches in Macao on Monday.
In men’s singles, Manav Thakkar lost to Park Gang-hyeon of the Republic of Korea in straight sets 0-3 (7-11, 6-11, 8-11).
The world no 33 will now take on world No. 2 and Olympic silver medallist Truls Möregårdh of Sweden in the final group game.
Asian Games medallist Manav is the sole Indian representative in the men’s game.
Meanwhile, Manika Batra lost to a higher-ranked Miwa Harimoto of Japan 3-0 (16-18, 4-11, 6-11).
The world no 47 Indian will be up against Olympian Lily Zhang, ranked 42nd, of the USA in her final group stage match on Tuesday.
Only the top 16 will qualify for the round of 16 stage.
Another Indian, Sreeja Akula will begin her campaign against Olympic gold medallist Wang Manyu of the People’s Republic of China in women’s singles Group 2 on Tuesday. Sreeja is ranked 44th in the world while Manyu is the second-ranked women’s singles player in the world.