Olympics: Manika Batra knocked out of women’s singles, as Hirano rushes her from close to the table

India’s table tennis star Manika Batra was knocked out of the women’s singles event at the Paris Olympics with a 1-4 (6-11, 9-11, 14-12, 8-11, 6-11) loss to Japan’s Miu Hirano in the Round of 16 on Wednesday.

Manika had created history on Tuesday by becoming the first Indian paddler to reach the Round of 16 at the Olympics.

Against a higher-ranked World No. 13 Miu Hirano, the Indian ranked No 28, wasn’t allowed much room to play her favourite twiddle and tap. It also didn’t help that the Japanese barely made any mistakes.

The scoreline may read 4-1 but it doesn’t tell the full story. The fact is that they were neck to neck in almost every game. But in the fast-paced 11-point game, momentum can shift really fast and that’s exactly what happened in most of the games.

From two down to one up 🏓

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Hirano started brilliantly to take the first game 11-6 and put the pressure on Manika. It was tied at 6-6 before the 24-year-old Hirano won five straight points to put Manika on the backfoot.

Hirano then made it two in two despite Manika leading 6-2 in the second game. With her back against the wall, Manika then pulled back one game to give herself a fighting chance. It was in the third game that the Delhi girl looked herself. Instead of twiddling, she tapped with her long pimpled backhand and successfully won at least three points with it. Hirano fought back though and Manika did brilliantly to save three match points before converting the first game point she got.

Just when it looked like Manika was clawing her way back into the fourth game and the match, Hirano took a brilliant tactical timeout when she was leading 6-5. That mini break broke Manika’s rhythm and Hirano had little trouble in winning the game. She then simply outplayed Manika in the fifth to seal the match.

Manika has struggled when playing against top Asians, though she has gotten some stellar wins, like the one over 2021 World Champion Wang Manyu at the Saudi Smash earlier this year. She has particularly found it difficult against opponents that play closer to the table, which gives her less time to twiddle. The 29-year-old Manika did try to attack with her long pimples which seemed to surprise Hirano on occasion, but she couldn’t whip up one on demand.

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A Round of 16 is still a fabulous achievement for Manika but there’s no time to rest as she along with Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath prepare for the team event starting on Monday. It’s the first time India have qualified in both men’s and women’s team event and an easier draw means that the women have a real chance of making it to the semifinal.

They must beat a dangerous Romania in their opening encounter and possibly Germany in the quarterfinal though. It’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks for Indian table tennis.

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