Indian women 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 by 4-1 (11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5). Suthirtha Mukherjee crashed out of the competition with a 3-4 loss to Tatiana Kukulkova (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).