Kaufmann had no business being on Germany’s Olympics squad. Only Ying Han’s injury was the reason she was there. Both Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula were defeated by her in the quarterfinal.
The draw was ideal for the Indian women’s table tennis squad. It took them a long time to get to the Olympic semifinals. It appeared like they merely needed to turn up.
Annett Kaufmann, a German left-hander who is eighteen, was something they neglected to consider. The teenage girl poked fun at the defensive pimpled rubbers that Indian celebrities Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra wore with her offensive performance. She attacked everything, and the Indians in their individual singles matches were unable to stop her aggression. How well she understood the game was even more astounding. She went after it with ease since she knew how the Indians would return. The ball shot sky high and India lost 1-3 to finish their campaign in Paris, regardless of whether it was played on her forehand or backhand.
Pimpled Rubber On Backhands A Discussion At Olympics.
The benefit of Indian ladies using the pimpled rubber on their backhands was a topic of much discussion. It is typically used as a defensive rubber to reverse the spin and slow down play. Manika and Sreeja are experts at using it to switch up the game and set themselves up for attacks. However, its drawback is that it’s incredibly playable when the opponent can read the spin. Its drawbacks outweigh its benefits when faced with an attacking player who can read spin. Kaufmann also caused chaos.
India entered their quarterfinal match against Germany as favorites after defeating Romania in the Round of 16. World No. 17 Nina Mittelham was out for the Europeans due to a back ailment, so Manika Batra and company would have felt that this was the ideal chance for them to get to the semifinals in their first-ever Olympic team competition.
Germany, it turns out, did not read the script. Their team consisted of a diverse group of young and seasoned players. 41-year-old Xiaona Shan was born in China; interestingly, in 2002, she was ranked as high as World No. 2. There was the outstanding player Yuan Wan, and there was Kaufmann, who has only recently climbed the WTT rankings.
Remarkably, Kaufmann wasn’t even expected to compete for Germany in the Olympics. Her Achilles tendon injury was caused by Ying Han, a 41-year-old defensive expert, which is the only reason she was there. Wan wasn’t even expected to make it. The German federation stated that she took Mittelham’s spot when the latter was forced to withdraw owing to a disc ailment.
Doubles The Shock
After losing the first game in the opening rubber, India realized they were in trouble. Wan and Shan fought Sreeja and Archana Kamath. When the Germans served, they threw the ball high, which knocked the Indians off balance. The Sreeja-Archana approach of using Sreeja’s pimples to defend and Archana’s speed to attack failed because the German duo had flawlessly figured out their plan. Before making their attacks, they played it short to Archana and long to Sreeja. The Indians lost 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, and 11-6, managing to win just one game.
Manika, who had been in excellent shape, was supposed to bring things back to par after the shock. Having seen Germany’s Round of 16 encounters against the USA, where the young player won both of her bouts with confidence, she would have realized Kaufmann would present a test. Unexpectedly, she didn’t anticipate a full-blown assault. Kaufmann did not allow Manika to fidget. Manika’s forehand serves were all quickly hammered down the line. With greater speed and spin, the taps were returned. Aside from Manika’s victory in the opening game, Kaufmann’s 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, and 11-5 victories were the first occasion in Paris that the Delhi girl appeared utterly lost.
With Archana Kamath up next against the seasoned Shan, India was up 2-0 and looking at a rout. Archana prevailed in a fast encounter that was completely unexpected. She prevailed in the exhausting opening game 19–17 but lost the second game 1–11. To give India some hope, she went on to win the following two games and the match, 11-5, 11-9.
Sadly for India, Kaufmann was the next to confront Sreeja, and she carried out her actions exactly as she had with Manika. In a string of 11-6, 11-7, and 11-7 games, India was eliminated from the competition.
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