India’s Sutirtha Mukherjee was knocked out after losing 0-4 to Portugal’s Fu Yu in the table tennis women’s singles round 2 in 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Monday. She lost the match in 23 minutes as she could not counter her opponent who put up a solid performance.

The Indian lost 3-11, 3-11, 5-11, 5-11 in straight games.

Earlier, she had made a promising start to her Olympics campaign by recording a 4-3 win against 78-ranked Linda Bergstrom of Sweden. Mukherjee showed remarkable grit to down her Swedish opponent after trailing 1-3 in the best of seven affair. She won 5-11, 11-9, 11-13, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-5.

The match saw plenty of long rallies with Linda, who is a defensive player, relying on backhand pushes away from the table. The Indian, who also plays with a pimpled rubber like the more accomplished Manika, had to be patient to win points against the Swede.

Former player and India great Kamlesh Mehta felt what made the win Sutirtha’s win more remarkable was that she had almost no practice against a defensive player.

“It was a very good win because in India we don’t have a lot of choppers (defenders) to play with,” reckoned Mehta.

Earlier in the day, India’s Sharath Kamal recorded a 4-2 win over Portugal Tiago Apolonia in men’s singles round 2. The match that lasted 49 minutes saw the Indian lose the opening game 2-11 in an abysmal manner in just four minutes.

However, he upped the ante and took the next two games 11-8, and 11-5 in seven minutes (both games), respectively. By virtue of these wins, he took a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Indian maintained his composure as he entered game 5 and it took him 8 minutes to register an 11-6 win over his Portuguese opponent. In game 6, India’s Sharath Kamal, in a closely-fought, match won the game 11-9 in nine minutes.

The Indian paddler now has a tough match ahead as he takes on the legendary Long, who is also the reigning world champion.

Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Long has won every singles title in the sport.