ITTF World Cup 2025: Manika, Sreeja fail to qualify for knockout stage

Olympians Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula failed to qualify for the knockout stage at the ITTF World Cup in Macao, China, on Wednesday.

Placed in Group 16, World No. 30 Manika lost 1-3 (11-13, 8-11, 4-11, 12-10) to World No. 23 Bruna Takahashi of Brazil in a virtual knockout clash. Earlier, the Indian had beaten New Caledonia’s Maylis Giret 4-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-6, 11-4) in her opening fixture.

In Group 9, World No. 34 Sreeja went down 0-4 (8-11, 6-11, 9-11, 8-11) to World No. 13 Bernadette Szocs of Romania. Sreeja had defeated Australia’s Constantina Psihogios 3-1 (11-9, 11-4, 11-8, 6-11) in her first match.

Manika and Sreeja were the only two Indian women in the tournament. No Indian male paddler managed to qualify for the event.

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The tournament comprises two stages. In Stage 1, 48 players (in both men’s and women’s singles) were split into 16 groups of three.

Matches in Stage 1 consisted of four games, with final rankings based on win-loss ratios. The winner of each group qualifier for Stage 2, comprising a knockout draw.

The knockout stage will have best-of-seven games fixtures.

Where to watch ITTF World Cup 2025 in India?

Viewers in India can watch live stream of the ITTF World Cup 2025 on the tournament’s official YouTube channel.