Table Tennis World Cup: Manika, Manav begin campaigns with losses

India’s Manika Batra and Manav Thakkar began their group-stage campaign at the ITTF World Cup with similar defeats on the opening day of the tournament in Macau.

While Manika lost 0-3 (16-18, 4-11, 6-11) to Japan’s Miwa Harimoto in a 31-minute clash in women’s singles, Thakkar fell to a 0-3 (7-11, 6-11, 8-11) defeat to South Korea’s Park Gang-hyeon in a match which was wrapped up in less than 20 minutes.

Manika is placed in Group 4 alongside Harimoto and Lily Zhang, while Thakkar has Truls Moregard in Group 2 of the men’s singles.

The only other Indian in the fray is Sreeja Akula who will start her campaign on Tuesday against Portugal’s Fu Yu. Sreeja, placed in Group 2, will also play Wang Manyu of China.

Across the 16 groups in men’s and women’s singles, only the table toppers will advance to the Round of 16.

Published on Mar 30, 2026