Indian paddlers Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula advanced to the women’s singles quarter-finals of the Commonwealth Games table tennis event here on Friday.
Batra defeated Australian Ji Minhyung 11-4 11-8 11-6 12-10 to reach the quarter-finals.
The 27-year-old star paddler will now take on Singapore’s Jian Zeng in the last eight matches tonight.
Sreeja, on the other hand, played a nerve-wracking encounter against Charlotte Carey of Wales to find herself in the last eight.
The 24-year-old worked hard but mustered up the courage to beat Carey 8-11, 11-7, 12-14, 9-11, 11-4, 15-13, 12-10.
Sreeja will take on Canada’s Mo Zhang in the quarterfinals which is also to be held tonight.
Earlier in the day both Manika and Sreeja also reached the mixed doubles quarterfinals.
Batra and mixed doubles partner Sathiyan Gnanasekaran defeated Nigeria’s Olajide Omotoyo and Ajoke Ojomu 11-7, 11-6, 11-7.
The two will take on Malaysia’s Jawen Chong and Karen Lin in the first quarterfinal match on Friday.
On the other hand, Sreeja and her partner Achanta Sharath Kamal came from behind to beat Malaysia’s Leon Chi Feng and Ho Ying 5-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-5.
They will play against home favorites Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho in a second quarterfinal clash on the same day.
Meanwhile, Reeth Tennyson crashed out in the women’s singles event after losing to Fang Tianwei of Singapore in the round of 16.
Tianwei of Singapore proved too strong for Tennyson and defeated the latter 11-2, 11-4, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4. Meanwhile, Kamal and Gyanasekaran defeated Bavm Ramhimliyan and Ridoy Mohutsin Ahmed of Bangladesh to enter the men’s doubles quarter-finals.
The Indian pair won three consecutive games 11-6, 11-1, 11-4 in their round of 16 matches. Kamal and Gyanasekaran will now take on the English pair of Tom Jarvis and Sam Walker tonight. Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty also reached the last-eight stage after beating Australian pair of Chambers Dillon and Yan Xin 3-1.
Desai and Shetty, who won 11-3, 9-11, 9-11, 7-11, will now take on Clarence Chew and Shao Feng Ethan Poh of Singapore in a last-eight round of matches.