Macau, March 31 -- The Indian table tennis stars Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula had contrasting outings on day two of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Cup 2026 in Macau on Tuesday.

Manika, the world number 47th in women's competition, secured a a 3-2 (11-7, 11-2, 14-16, 5-11, 11-6) win over world No. 42 Lily Zhang of the USA. Manika was dominant, looking on track to seal the match in straight games, but Lily produced a brilliant comeback to enforce a tie-break in the third game and won the fourth game as well to take the game to a decider fifth game, as per Olympics.com.

The class of three-time Olympian Batra shone under pressure as she finished with a win in her final group stage match of the tournament.

On the ot...