Paris. India faced disappointment in table tennis late evening in Paris Olympics. Manika Batra and Shreeja Akula, who reached the pre-quarterfinals of the singles event of the Olympic Games for the first time, ended their journey here. Now India has some hopes from this game in team games. Both the players had come against higher ranked players in the pre-quarterfinals of the women's singles event of table tennis. Manika lost 1-4 (6-11, 9-11, 14-12, 8-11, 6-11) against Japan's Miyu Hirano.

Sreeja, who celebrated her birthday by reaching the pre-quarterfinals in the morning, was defeated by world number one Sun Yingsha of China 4-0 (10-12, 10-12, 8-9-11, 3-11) in the last 16 match. Sreeja failed to capitalize on four and five game points respectively in the first two sets of this match that lasted 38 minutes. In both these sets, the Chinese player made a great comeback using her experience.

After this, Sreeja hit some good shots in the third and fourth games but she had no answer to Yingsha's speed and strong strikes. With this, the journey of Indian players in the singles category came to an end. Manika and Sreeja reaching the Olympic pre-quarterfinals is the best performance of any Indian player in the singles category.

Experienced Manika became the first Indian to make it to the Round of 16 on Monday and Sreeja made it to the pre-quarterfinals by defeating Singapore's Jian Zheng 4-2 in a tough match on Wednesday morning. Manika said after the match, 'I could have tried more. I was not happy with the way I started. I feel bad inside. My confidence increased after the third game but she played very well. I am feeling sad. I had to be a little restrained.'

This Indian star said that she could not play according to her potential, due to which she had to face defeat. She said, 'My forehand was not good. I don't know why. It happens. I am sad today but I have to prepare for the team event for the country.' Manika had a good lead in two games but Miyu improved her game with fast strokes and stopped the Indian player from making more history.

Manika lost the first game quickly and in the second she took a 5-1 lead but Miyu put Manika on the backfoot with fast strokes and took a 9-7 lead. Miyu's mistake made the score 9-9. Manika gave game point to her opponent and Liu won it to take a 2-0 lead.

Manika got a good chance to make a comeback as Miyu made several unforced errors in the third game. The Indian player took a 7-2 lead but Miyu soon leveled the score at 9-9. Manika saved three game points and won it 14-12.

But after this, she could not continue this momentum and lost the next two games and was eliminated. This is the first time in the history of Indian table tennis that two players made it to the last 16.