Paris Olympics: Sreeja Akula storms into Round of 16 after beating Singapore's Jian Zeng
Jul 31, 2024
Paris [France], July 31 : India paddler Sreeja Akula stormed into the Round of 16 after beating her Singapore opponent Jian Zeng in the women's singles 'round of 32' table tennis match at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
The Indian paddler won the Round of 32 match 4-2 (9-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10). The match lasted for 51 minutes at the South Paris Arena on Wednesday.
In the first two games, Zeng took the challenge and dominated her opponent. In the third and fourth games, Sreeja displayed a stunning performance to take the lead. While Zeng bounced back to win the fifth, Akula held her nerve to win the contest in the next game.
Akula became only the second Indian table tennis singles player to make the round of 16 at the Olympics.
Earlier on Sunday, Sreeja Akula proceeded into the next round following her resounding win over Sweden's Christina Kallberg in the Round of 64 of the women's singles event.
The Indian paddler cruised to an 11-4, 11-9, 11-7, and 11-8 win.
In the best-of-seven tie, India's no. 1 ranked table tennis star kicked off her debut in the Olympics with a bang and raced to a 9-2 lead in the opening game against the Swedish paddler. Kallberg bounced back and took a point, but Sreeja continued to exercise her prowess and took the first game 11-4.
India paddler Manika Batra outclassed Prithika Pavade of France in the table tennis women's singles round of 32 match of the ongoing Paris Olympics. Batra defeated her French opponent by 4-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7) in the table tennis women's singles round of 32 match.
Batra bounced back from a two-point deficit to win the first game 11-9. The Indian clinched the second game with a comfortable five-point margin. Even though Pavade tried to resist in the third game, Batra took the game 11-9.
