ITTF World Cup 2026: Manika Batra battles past Lily Zhang to end group stage with win

Indian table tennis players Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula produced contrasting results on Day 2 of the ITTF World Cup 2026 in Macau, People's Republic of China on Tuesday.

Manika Batra, 47th in the table tennis world rankings for women’s singles, registered a 3-2 (11-7, 11-2, 14-16, 5-11, 11-6) win over world No. 42 Lily Zhang of the USA.

The 30-year-old Manika Batra appeared set to seal the contest in straight games, surging to a 5-2 lead in the third and earning two match points.

However, Lily Zhang, former Pan American singles champion, mounted a spirited comeback, forcing a tie-break before clinching the game. Riding that momentum, Zhang claimed the fourth to push the match to a decider.

The three-time Olympian Batra, though, regrouped under pressure to close out the contest and finish with a win in her final group match.

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 had lost her first match of the tournament in Group 4 against world No. 5 Miwa Harimoto of Japan on the opening day of the ITTF World Cup.

Only the top 16 group toppers will qualify for the round of 16 stage. Miwa Harimoto and Lily Zhang will go head-to-head on Wednesday, following which the Group 4 winner will be decided.

India’s other entrant in the women’s draw, Sreeja Akula, ranked 44th in the world, made a promising start by taking the first game against Olympian Fu Yu of Portugal in her tournament opener in Group 2.

However, Sreeja Akula eventually went down 3-1 (8-11, 11-9, 15-13, 11-8) against world No. 48 Fu Yu.

Sreeja Akula will face world No. 2 and Olympic gold medallist Wang Manyu of the People’s Republic of China in her final group match on Wednesday.

Manav Thakkar, who went down to the Republic of Korea’s Park Gang-hyeon in his tournament opener in the men’s draw, will also return to action on Wednesday.

He will face Olympic silver medallist and world No. 2 Truls Möregårdh of Sweden.

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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