Tokyo: Indian men outplayed Australia while the women fought hard to beat Nigeria on day two of the World Team Table Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
The men's team eased past Australia 3-0 in Group F and women got the better of Portugal 3-1 in Group G.
The Indian teams play Iran and Turkey respectively later in the day.
Sharath Kamal, India's highest-ranked player at 39, defeated David Powell 11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 in the opening singles.
Reigning national champion Sanil Shetty was stretched to five games by Hu Heming. The southpaw eventually prevailed 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 11-3.
Harmeet Desai gave India their second win in as many games by getting past Kane Townsend 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 in the third singles.
In the women's category, Manika Batra gave her team the early advantage with a 7-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 win over Rita Fins.
Ana Neves then shocked the experienced Shamini Kumaresan 11-6, 5-11, 11-9, 11-6 for Portugal's fightback.
Shamini faced the heat again in the reverse singles after Madhurika Patkar comfortably won the third singles against Leila Oliviera 11-7, 11-5, 11-8.
Facing Rita, Shamini staged a remarkable comeback to clinch the decider 9-11, 7-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-6.
Both Indian teams are playing in the biennial tournament's second division where only the top-two of the 24 teams qualify for the Championships division in the following edition.
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