Manika Batra’s magical run at the Paris Olympics continues as the Indian sank France’s Prithika Pavade in four straight games to seal her place in the Women’s Singles Round of 16 on Monday.
Batra put away the sprited Pavade in four straight heated games of 11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7.
With her win, Manika now becomes the first women’s table tennis player from India to make it to the round of 16 in singles at the Olympics.
Batra and Pavade got into a heated back-and-forth in the first set itself, as both women kept it tight all the way through till it was 9-9. Then, a seamless switch from defense to offense ensured that Manika clinched the next two points in a row and took the early 1-0 lead.
The second game started off in similar fashion with Pavade and Batra trading blows, with veracity to keep it at 6-6. But, Manika had enough and went on a blitz, scoring five straight points to put away the pesky Prithika 11-6 an d build India’s lead up to 2-0.
The more Pavade fought, the closer she got. It was especially reflected in Game 3, where after Manika built a comfortable lead at 9-4, the Frenchwoman fought back hard to claw her way to 10-9. Batra though took a little breather and staved away the fiery attack to close out Pavade 11-9 and clinch the 3-0 lead.
With one game away from victory, Batra could sense victory and got off to a fiery start, taking a 3-0 lead. Despite Pavade’s clapbacks, there wasn’t much that the 19-year-old youngster could do as the Indian blitzed her way to a comfortable 11-5 win to seal the match a clean 4-0.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games champion Manika, seeded 18th in the tournament and ranked 28th in the world, had previously clinched her first win at the Paris Olympics in five games of 11-8 12-10 11-9 9-11 11-5 over Grat Britain’s Anna Hursey, who is world number 103.
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