Manika Batra on Monday became the first Indian table tennis player to reach the round of 16 in the Olympic Games singles competition after a 4-0 thrashing of higher-ranked Prithika Pavade of France here.
The 29-year-old Manika, gold medallist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, won 11-9 11-6 11-9 11-7 against her 19-year-opponent Pavade whose parents were originally from Puducherry before shifting to France in 2003.
In the Tokyo Olympics, Manika had become the first women's table tennis player from India to make it to the round of 32 in singles. She did one step better than that here on Monday.
Achanta Sharath Kamal had also reached the round of 32 in men's singles in the Tokyo Olympics.
Manika is currently ranked 28th in the world, 10 places lower than Pavade.
