Digital Desk: Manika Batra's Indian women's table tennis team dominated South Africa 3-0 in their opening Group 2 match in Birmingham on Friday, kicking off their title defence at the Commonwealth Games.
The women's
doubles team of Sreeja Akula and Reeth Tennison took the court first and worked
well together to defeat Lailaa Edwards and Danisha Patel of South Africa 11-7
11-7 11-5 to give India the lead.
Then, in the
opening singles match, incumbent Commonwealth Games champion Batra, who in the
previous edition became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in table
tennis, dominated Musfique Kalam 11-5 11-3 11-2.
In order to win the second singles
match and draw the match for India, Akula came back and defeated Patel with a
commanding score of 11-5, 11-3, and 11-6.
Later on in the day, the Indian
women's team will play Fiji in their second group match.
