India took an early 2-0 lead, but Romania fought back valiantly to level the score at 2-2.However, in the decisive match, Manika rose to the occasion and secured the win for her team, PTI reported.
The Indian duo of Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath set the tone by defeating Adina Diaconu and Elizabeta Samara in the opening doubles match with scores of 11-9, 12-10, 11-7.
Manika easily defeated Bernadette Szocs, who holds a higher ranking, in straight games. The final score was 11-5, 11-7, 11-7, giving India a strong 2-0 advantage against their fourth-seeded rivals. In the tournament, India is seeded 11th.
However, the second singles match did not go India’s way. Despite winning the opening game, Sreeja Akula lost to the European champion, Elizabeta Samara, in a closely contested five-set battle. The final scoreline read 11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 6-11, 8-11 in favor of Samara.
After Sreeja’s defeat, Archana faced off against Bernadette. Bernadette won the first game 11-5, but Archana bounced back to take the second game 11-8, leveling the match. However, Bernadette claimed the next two games 11-7, 11-9, securing the match and pushing the tie to a decider.
In the final match, Manika dominated Adina, winning 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-9) to secure the tie in India’s favor.
India will face either the USA or Germany in the quarter-finals.
On the same side of the draw, Japan, Poland, France, and Thailand are also competing.
Last week, Manika and Sreeja made table tennis history as the first Indian players to reach the round of 16 in the individual event at the Olympics. Unfortunately, both were unable to advance further, falling to higher-ranked opponents.