Manika Batra has the potential to be the next big thing in table tennis

It is hard to imagine that Manika Batra is only 25, considering the number of medals she has won on the global stage. It was the Rio Olympics qualification that brought Manika into the spotlight, but her real success came later in the Commonwealth Games. The top-ranked female paddler in the country, Batra has witnessed an upward trajectory in her career since bursting onto the scene. She possesses all the necessary ingredients to develop into a world-class paddler in the near future.

At the tender age of four, Manika started playing table tennis and in her teenage she was fully committed to the sport. After representing India at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, it was in the 2015 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, she announced her arrival. The 25-year-old won Silver in the women’s team event as well as the women’s doubles event. In the women’s singles, she had to settle for a Bronze.

A year later at the 2016 South Asian Games, Batra won three Gold medals in the women’s doubles, mixed doubles and women’s team event. Compatriot Mouma Das denied Manika a fourth Gold, beating her in the final of the women’s singles. There was no stopping Batra after she found her feet at the international level.

Manika dives into spotlight

The public took note of her only when she qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics couple of months later. Manika was the country’s main star attraction in Table Tennis going into the tournament. However, she failed to build upon the promise by crashing out of the Olympics in the first round of the women’s singles category.

She did not let the disappointment bring her down, instead, Manika worked on her flaws and fine-tuned her technique for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The paddler from Delhi was one of the star performers of the tournament, winning four medals in total.

Batra, part of Indian women’s team, bagged a Gold in the final against the favourites and four-time Gold medalists Singapore. The impressive aspect about the victory was seeing Batra stun the then World No.4 Feng Tianwei in the final.

Then she clinched India’s maiden Silver medal in the women’s doubles category playing alongside Mouma Das. A Bronze in the mixed doubles followed her next. But her glorious moment arrived when Manika defeated Yu Mengyu of Singapore in the final to become the first Indian woman to bag a Commonwealth Gold in the singles category of table tennis.

Her stellar year ended on a high with Manika winning the ‘Breakthrough Table Tennis Star’ award at the prestigious International Table Tennis Federation Star Awards. With a powerful forehand and a variety of services, Batra’s specialty is playing long-pimples on her backhand. In order to dominate the table tennis world, it is imperative to match the levels set by the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese players. That is exactly what Manika and her coach are aiming to achieve with her rigorous training program. She has plenty of time on her side to become the next big thing in badminton.