18-year-old German Annett Kaufmann’s heroics knocks Manika Batra & Co out of Paris Olympics

The Indian women’s table tennis team had a dream draw. Their road to the semifinal at the Olympics was drawn out. They just had to show up, it seemed.

What they failed to factor in, however, was an 18-year-old left-hander from Germany, Annett Kaufmann.

The teenager, with her attacking play, made a mockery of defensive pimpled rubbers used by both India’s stars – Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula. In their respective singles matches, the Indians just simply couldn’t counter her aggression – and she attacked everything. What was even more impressive was the way she read the game. She knew how the Indians were going to return, and went after it seamlessly. It didn’t matter if it came to her forehand or backhand, the ball went blazing away and India succumbed to a shocking 1-3 loss to end their campaign in Paris.

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There was a lot of talk about the advantage of Indian women using the pimpled rubber on the backhand. Traditionally it’s a defensive rubber that slows down the game and reverses the spin. Manika and Sreeja have used to perfection to change up the game and set up attacks. The disadvantage of it though, is that when the opponent can read the spin, it’s very easily playable. Against an attacking player who is able to read the spin, it has more disadvantages than advantages. And Kaufmann wreaked havoc.

After beating Romania in the Rd of 16, India went in as favourites in their quarterfinal clash against Germany on Wednesday. The Europeans were missing their key player in World No. 17 Nina Mittelham – who was out with a back injury – and Manika Batra & Co would’ve thought it was a perfect opportunity for them to enter the semifinal in the very first time they qualified for the team event at the Olympics.

It turns out, Germany didn’t read the script. They had a mixed bag for a team, a mixture of youth and experience. 41-year-old China-born Xiaona Shan, who, for the record, was ranked as high as World No. 2 back in 2002. There was Yuan Wan, an exceptional player, and then there was Kaufmann, who has only recently climbed the WTT rankings.

Stunningly, Kaufmann wasn’t even supposed to be in Germany’s team for the Games. She was there only because of the injury of Ying Han, the 41-year-old defensive specialist who injured her Achilles tendon. Even Wan wasn’t supposed to make it. She replaced Mittelham who had to pull out due to a disc injury, according to the German federation.

Doubles jolt

India knew they were in trouble when they lost the first game of the opening rubber. Sreeja and Archana Kamath struggled against Wan and Shan. The Germans tossed the ball high when they served and it threw the Indians off balance. The Sreeja-Archana tactic of defending with Sreeja’s pimples and attacking with Archana’s pace didn’t work as the German pair had worked out their strategy perfectly. They played it long to Sreeja and short to Archana before launching attacks of their own. The Indians managed to win only one game and went down tamely 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6.

After the jolt, Manika, who has been in sublime form, was expected to restore parity. She would’ve known that Kaufmann would be a challenge after watching Germany’s Rd of 16 match against the USA where the youngster won both her matches confidently. What she surely didn’t expect was an out-an-out attack. Kaufmann didn’t give Manika any time to twiddle. All Manika’s serves to the forehand were promptly whacked down the line. Taps were returned with more pace and spin. Apart from the first game which Manika won, it was the first time the Delhi girl looked completely clueless in Paris as Kaufmann won 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5.

It was 2-0 up and India were staring at a whitewash with Archana Kamath up next against the seasoned Shan. In a topsy-turvy whirlwind match, Archana came out trumps. She won the marathon first game 19-17, before being thrashed in the second 1-11. She then went on to win the next two games and the match 11-5, 11-9 to give India some hope.

Unfortunately for India, it was Kaufmann who was next against Sreeja and she did exactly what she had done to Manika. Straight games 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 and India were dumped out of the tournament.

Despite the loss, the Indian players can hold their heads up knowing that they’ve set the bar high. It was the first time two Indian players –Manika and Sreeja– reached the Rd of 16 in the women’s singles competition and it was also the first time India qualified for the team event at the Olympics. They would know, however, that a semifinal was well within their reach. If only they could figure out how to play against that 18-year-old.

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