Manika Batra surprised world No. 18 and French favourite Prithika Pavade to deliver India's best show in table tennis by becoming the first Indian paddler to reach the last 16 stage in the Olympic Games. Prithika, of Indian origin, was born in Paris a year after her parents shifted to France in 2003.
On her way to achieve the historic feat, the 29-year-old Manika gave a ruthless display of backhand play and handed the French paddler an early exit from the women's singles with a straight 4-0 win.
For the first time since table tennis was introduced in Olympics during the Seoul Games in 1988, no Indian paddler ever was able to break into the last-16 stage of the competition.
Manika achieved the rare feat by winning her round-of-32 clash against the Indian origin Prithika in 37 minutes. After taking time to settle into her groove, the world No. 28 Manika outclassed 19-year-old Prithika 11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 at the South Paris Arena 4 of the French capital late on Monday night.
Manika said, "I am really happy and feel blessed to reach the round of 16. It was one of the best matches, playing and winning against a French player in France was amazing. My focus is to play every match with my best effort and enjoy the Olympics. I was not thinking about creating history. I will take one match at a time and give my best as I always do."
Manika will now face the winner of the clash between World no. 13 Miu Hirano of Japan and Hong Kong China's Zhu Chengzhu.
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