ITTF World Cup 2026: Manika Batra, Manav Thakkar lose opening matches

Indian table tennis players made a disappointing start in the ITTF World Cup 2026 with both Manika Batra and Manav Thakkar losing their respective opening group matches in Macao on Monday.

In the women’s singles, Manika Batra, 47th in the world rankings, lost 3-0 (18-16, 11-4, 11-6) to Japan’s Miwa Harimoto in Group 4.

The 30-year-old Manika Batra presented a resolute front against world No. 5 Harimoto in the opening game.

Trailing 8-5 at one stage, Manika Batra clawed her way back into the contest and went toe-to-toe against her higher-ranked Japanese opponent, stretching the opening game to a marathon 34 points.

It was Harimoto who eventually came out on top after the dust settled and carried on the momentum to dominate the next two games.

All group stage table tennis matches at the ITTF World Cup follow a best-of-five games format before shifting to a best-of-seven for the knockout rounds.

Manika Batra will face Olympian Lily Zhang, ranked 42nd, of the USA in her final group stage match on Tuesday.

Only the top 16 group toppers will qualify for the round of 16 stage.

Earlier in the men’s singles draw, India’s only representative, Asian Games medallist Manav Thakkar, went down 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-8) to Park Gang-hyeon of the Republic of Korea.

It will come across as a disappointing result for the Indian, ranked 33rd in the world, against Park Gang-hyeon, who is 46th.

Thakkar faces an uphill battle in his final group game, which will be against world No. 2 and Olympic silver medallist Truls Möregårdh of Sweden.

Meanwhile, the third Indian table tennis player in the tournament - Sreeja Akula - will start her campaign in Group 2 of the women’s singles draw on Tuesday.

World No. 44 Sreeja Akula opens with a tough draw against Olympic gold medallist Wang Manyu of the People’s Republic of China, currently the second-ranked women’s singles player in the world.

Fu Yu of Portugal, an Olympian, is the other player in Akula’s group.

No Indian table tennis player has ever won a medal at the ITTF World Cup. Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula competed in the 2025 edition of the tournament but failed to make it past the group stage.

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