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

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 Common...