india lost to germany 1 3 in the women table tennis team event campaign ends in paris olympics

Paris: Archana Kamath put up a challenge for a while in the quarterfinals of the women’s table tennis team event of the Paris Olympics here on Wednesday but her performance was not enough as the Indian team lost 1-3 to technically superior Germany. With the defeat of the Indian women’s team, the country’s campaign in the table tennis event of the Paris Olympics also ended. The Indian pair of Sreeja Akula and Archana lost to the pair of Yuan Wan and Ziona Shan 5-11 11-8 10-12 6-11 in the opening doubles match.

Sreeja and Archana held the responsibility till the third game but lost in deuce. Then they also lost the match. India’s star player Manika Batra did not look in her best form against Annette Kaufman in the first singles. She won the first game but lost the next three games and lost the match 11-8 5-11 7-11 5-11. With this, the German team managed to take a 2-0 lead. After this, Archana showed a ray of hope to India. In the second singles, she won 19-17 1-11 11-5 11-9 over Ziona Shan.

In the third singles, Kaufman defeated Sreeja 11-6 11-7 11-7 to give Germany victory and enter the semi-finals. The Indian women’s team made it to the quarterfinals by defeating higher ranked Romania 3-2 in a thrilling match on Monday. The Indian men’s team led by veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal was eliminated on Tuesday after losing 0-3 to China in the pre-quarterfinals. However, Manika and Sreeja created history by becoming the first Indian players to reach the round of 16 in the individual event of the Olympics. But both were eliminated after losing to their higher ranked opponents. India participated in the team event for the first time in the Paris Olympics. Men’s and women’s table tennis team events were introduced in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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