Team India defeated Romania to reach the quarterfinal of the women’s table tennis team competition for the first time ever at the ongoing Paris Olympics on Monday.

India defeated Romania by 3-2 in a thriller.

Playing at the South Paris Arena, India first gained a 2-0 advantage as Sreeja Akula-Archana Kamath and Manika Batra secured the first two matches of the tie by 3-0 each.

But later on, Romania put on a brilliant fight back in the singles matches of the tie, defeating Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath to make the scoreline read 2-2. Akula was beaten 3-2 in a hard-fought match while Archana lost her match by 3-1.

In the last match of the tie, Manika clutched and defeated Adina Diaconu by 3-0 to seal the tie for India.

India will be facing off against either the USA or Germany in the women’s table tennis quarterfinal.

Paris Olympics 2024, taking place from July 26 to August 11, marks the first time India will have representation in the men’s and women’s table tennis team events at the Olympics, having achieved the quotas on the basis of their rankings in March. Both the men’s and women’s team events were introduced in the Olympic programme at Beijing 2008.

The Indian paddlers ended their singles campaign in table tennis at the Olympics without any medal to their names. However, Manika and Sreeja created history by reaching the Round of 16 and becoming the first Indian paddlers to do so.

(ANI)