India’s table tennis star Manika Batra made a stunning comeback against world number 32 Margaryta Pesotska to reach the women’s singles third round but G Sathiyan succumbed to the pressure on his Olympic debut to exit the men’s singles competition on Sunday.
While the 26th seed Sathian was expected to beat world number 94 Hong Kong’s Siu Hang Lam in his second round match after getting a first round bye, the same cannot be said about Manika, whose gritty approach under pressure proved decisive against her higher-ranked opponent from Ukraine.
Manika, ranked 62, made a remarkable comeback after losing the first two games to prevail 4-11, 4-11, 11-7, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7 in a second round match that lasted 57 minutes.
She meets Austria’s Sofia Polcanova on Monday for a place in the round of 16. If Manika manages another upset, it will be a significant achievement for the Indian in her second Olympics.
Earlier, world number 38 Sathiyan had a commanding 3-1 lead but lost four games in a row to lose 3-4 to lower-ranked Lam from Hong Kong.
“It is heartbreaking but I will come back stronger. I was playing really well initially. I was aggressive and serving well but after the fourth game he started to slow down the pace and started receiving better,” Sathian said.