Olympics was a Sunday full of excitement for Indian fans. In Table Tennis and Boxing, top Indian paddler Manika Batra and six-time World Champion and London Olympics Bronze medalist Mary Kom won their respective matches to advance into next rounds. While Mary Kom dominated in her 49-51 kg flyweight category opening match against Dominican Republic’s Hernandez Garcia to claim a decisive 4:1 win, Manika Batra snatched the victory from the jaws of defeat on Sunday.
After losing the first two rounds, Batra made a stunning comeback to defeat Ukrainian Margartya Pesotska 4-3 (4-11, 4-11, 11-7, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7) to progress to the next round. Manika Batra, the current World number 63, became the first Indian paddler to reach the third round in Table Tennis singles at Olympics by defeating the Ukrainian Margartya, the current world number 32.
Manika’s comeback ‘fantastic’, ‘outstanding’: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag
Indian cricket’s finest opening pair of all time, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag took to Twitter to appreciate the stunning comeback that Manika Batra made in Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. While Sachin found it ‘fantastic’, Virender Sehwag said Manika’s comeback was ‘outstanding’.
“Slowly but surely Manika came back & started controlling the pace of the game,” Tendulkar said, adding that Manika beat the Ukrainian paddler with her superb game planning. “Her (Manika’s) situational awareness was just tremendous,” said Tendulkar.
“That was an outstanding comeback by Manika Batra to win that. Bahut bahut badhiya. Just one step away from a medal,” Virender Sehwag wrote on Twitter.
From ’the best fight’ to ‘medal loading’, Twitter hails Manika’s historic Sunday win
Here’s how Twitter reacted on Manika Batra’s win in the Olympics on Sunday.
She is still excellent: Netizens on 38-year-old magnificent Mary’s winning arrival in Olympics
This is how Netizens reacted upon Mary Kom’s 4:1 dominance against Dominican Republic’s Hernandez Garcia.
Mary Kom will face Rio Olympic bronze medalist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia in pre-quarterfinal of Women’s boxing 49-51 kg category on July 29. Whereas Manika Batra, after defeating World number 32 on Sunday, will next take on World number 16 Sofia Polcanova of Austria.
