Macau, April 14 -- India's top women paddlers and Paris 2024 Olympians, Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula, made a strong start to their campaigns at the ITTF World Cup 2025 in Macao on Monday, securing convincing victories in their opening group-stage matches and raising hopes of a historic breakthrough at the elite table tennis event.
India has never won a medal at the ITTF World Cup, but the dominant opening performances by the country's only two representatives at the tournament have kept that long-standing aspiration very much alive.
World No. 30 Manika Batra, leading Group 16, demolished New Caledonia's Maylis Giret, ranked 186th in the world, in straight games 4-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-6, 11-4) in a match that lasted just over 18 minutes. Her...