World Table Tennis Championship Finals 2023: Sreeja Akula, Reeth Tennison start campaign with wins

Durban [South Africa], May 21 : Indian woman paddlers Sreeja Akula and Reeth Tennison started their campaigns with wins at the ongoing World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Durban, South Africa on Saturday.

Reeth won her round of 128 match against Hana Arapovic by 4-2 (11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 14-12, 11-3, 11-8). On the other hand, Sreeja Akula also won her match against Nicole Arlia in the round of 128 stage by 4-1 (11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5).

Suthirtha Mukherjee crashed out of the competition with a loss to Tatiana Kukulkova by 3-4 (11-3, 11-4, 10-12, 10-12, 6-11, 11-5, 8-11).

In the men's singles competition, Manush Shah and Harmeet Desai were eliminated from the competition in the first round itself.

Harmeet lost his round of 128 match against Tiago Apolonia by 1-4 (13-11, 6-11, 4-11, 9-11, 13-15). Also, Manush lost his match to Cho Seungmin by 1-4 (8-11, 11-7, 13-11, 5-11, 5-11).

In the women's doubles competition, Sreeja Akula and Diya Parag Chitale started their campaign with a win in their round of 64 match. They won their match against Gaia Monfardini and Nicole Arlia by 3-2 (8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9).

Manika Batra and Archana Kamath also registered a 3-1 win over Emily Quan and Yishiuan Lin (10-12, 11-2, 11-9, 11-5).

After a dramatic 3-2 victory over Xia Lian Ni and Luka Mladenovic (9-11, 11-8, 14-16, 11-7, 11-6), Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran advanced to the Mixed Doubles round of 32.

The tournament started in Durban on May 20 and will go on till May 28.