TOKYO: India's table tennis player Sutirtha Mukherjee on Saturday won her opening game in the women's singles event here at Tokyo Metropolitan Gym -- Table 1 in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
Mukherjee defeated Sweden's Linda Bergstroem 5-11, 11-9, 11-1, 11-9, 11-3, 11-9, 11-5 in her opening game.
Mukherjee had managed to win the second game to bring the scoreline 1-1, but after that, the Sweden opponent won two games, putting more pressure on Mukherjee.
However, the Indian staged a comeback and she took the fifth and sixth games 11-3 and 11-9 respectively, keeping her hopes alive of walking away with a victory. In the end, it was Mukherjee who held her composure to walk away victorious.
Earlier on Saturday, Manika Batra cruised past Briitain's Tin-Tin Ho for the next round in women's singles event. Manika wasted no time and won the match in four straight games 11-7, 11-6, 12-10, 11-9 in exactly 30 minutes. The Indian paddler never seemed fazed by Tin-Tin Ho during the whole match.
This win of Manika will come as a morale booster after she along with Achanta Sharath Kamal failed to qualify for the next round in the mixed doubles event after suffering a heavy 0-4 defeat against the Chinese Taipei team of Yun Ju Lin and Cheng I Ching.
Lin and Cheng of the Chinese Taipei annihilated the Indian duo in just 24 minutes in the best of seven games contest.