India’s Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula bowed out of the women’s singles at the 2025 WTT Singapore Smash on Monday in the first round. Batra lost 1-3 to Romania’s Elizabeta Samara, while Akula had a close 2-3 defeat against China’s He Zhuojia. 

This was Akula’s first tournament after losing to Diya Chitale at the 86th Senior National Championships. She had a rough start, losing the first game 5-11. However, she showed strong determination, winning the second game 12-10 and the third game 11-9, leading the match. Just one game away from victory, Akula couldn’t maintain her lead. She lost the fourth game 8-11 and the final game 11-13, ending her match after an intense 50 minutes.

Later, Batra also exited the competition, marking the end of India’s singles campaign in Singapore. In her match, she lost the first game 10-12 but came back to win the next 11-7, tying the score. Despite her efforts, Samara won the third game 12-10 and the fourth 11-7, moving ahead in the competition. 

Both Manika and Sreeja Akula are not participating in the National Games. They apart, some prominent names who are competing in the National Games games are Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Reeth Rihya Tennison, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee. The Table Tennis will start from 9th February.