Sreeja Akula, the Indian table tennis player, was defeated 0-4 by Yingsha Sun, the world number one from China, in the pre-quarterfinals of the women's singles event at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
Sreeja, the top-ranked Indian player, lost with scores of 10-12 10-12 8-11 3-11 in a match that lasted 38 minutes, shortly after making history as the second Indian table tennis player to reach the round of 16 at the Olympics.
In a separate women's singles round of 16 match, Manika Batra lost 1-4 to the higher-ranked Japanese player Miu Hirano. She was the first Indian paddler to advance this far at the Games.
Earlier, Sreeja rallied to enter the pre-quarterfinals after a hard-fought 4-2 win over Singapore's Jian Zeng in a round of 32 match as Indian table tennis continued to make history.
On her 26th birthday, Sreeja won that match 9-11 12-10 11-4 11-5 10-12 12-10.
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