New Delhi, March 31 Three-time Olympian Manika Batra secured a hard-fought 3-2 victory over USA's Lily Zhang on Tuesday to remain in contention for a spot in the knockout rounds of the ITTF Table Tennis World Cup in Macau.
The 30-year-old Batra overcame Zhang with a score of 11-7, 11-2, 14-16, 5-11, 11-6 in a 43-minute Group 4 match, bouncing back from her defeat in the opening match against Japan's Miwa Harimoto.
In another match, world No. 43 Sreeja Akula suffered a 1-3 (11-8, 9-11, 13-15, 8-11) loss to Portugal's Fu Yu in her Group 2 opener. She will next face China's world No. 2 Wang Manyu on Wednesday.
In the men's draw, Manav Thakkar faces a must-win situation against Sweden's Olympic silver medallist Truls Moregard in Group 2 after going down 0-3 to Korea's Park Ganghyeon in his opening match.