Chengdu, Oct 1 (Table Tennis News) Sreeja Ajula and Diya Chitale registered impressive wins but star paddler Manika Batra lost both her fixtures as Indian women lost 2-3 to Germany in their ITTF World Team Championships opener here on Saturday. The men's team, on the other hand, blanked Uzbekistan 3-0 in its Group 2 opening clash.

Commonwealth Games medallist Batra, ranked 44 in the world, was no match to the world number eight Ying Han, who breezed past the Indian 3-0 (11-3 11-1 11-2) to giver her side a 1-0 lead.

World number 77 Sreeja then upstaged the higher-ranked Nina Mittelham 3-0 (11-9 12-10 11-7) to put India back in the contest.

The 122-ranked Diya then gave India the lead with a hard-fought 3-1 (11-9 8-11 11-6 13-11) win over Sabine Winter.

Asian Games medallist Batra made a strong start to her second match but couldn't take advantage of the winning momentum as she was handed a 1-3 (11-7 6-11 7-11 8-11) defeat by world number 14 Mittelham as the fixture was tied at 2-2.

However, the 24-year-old Sreeja too was no match to the mighty Ying, the 2016 Rio Olympics team silver medallist, as she also surrendered meekly to the German 0-3 (3-11 5-11 4-11) in the decider.

Indian women are placed third in Group 5.

Earlier, the men's team was hardly tested by its Uzbek rivals.

Harmeet Desai gave India the lead with a 3-0 (11-9 11-9 11-1) win over Elmurod Kholikov.

G Sathiyan then doubled the lead with a similar 3-0 (11-3 11-6 11-9) victory against Abdulaziz Anorboev while Manav Thakar sealed the fixture after defeating Shokhrukh Iskandar 3-0 (11-8 11-5 11-5).

The win puts India in third place in Group 2 behind Germany and France.

The Indian men will next face Germany while the women will take on Czech Republic on Sunday. 

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News Source : PTI