Tokyo Olympics: Indian paddlers Manika, Sutirtha advance to 2nd round

Tokyo:Indian paddlers Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee advanced to second round in women's singles table tennis event of Tokyo Olympics after registering convincing victories, here on Saturday.

Manika outclassed Great Britain's Tin-Tin Ho 4-0 (11-7, 11-6, 12-10, 11-9) to storm into the second round.With this victory, Batra becomes the first Indian woman to win a match in 29 years in the women's singles of the Olympics.

She will now face Ukraine's Margaryta Pesotska, a former European Championships silver medallist, in the second round.

Meanwhile, Sutirtha Mukherjee came from behind to upset Sweden's Linda Bergstrom 4-3 (5-11, 11-9, 11-13, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-5) and joined her Indian compatriot in the second round.

Mukherjee will face Portugal's Yu Fu in the second round.

Earlier in the day, Indian mixed doubles duo Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra bowed out of the Tokyo Olympics mixed doubles table tennis event after losing 4-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4) to the Chinese Taipei team of Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I-Ching in the Round of 16.(UNI)