Manika Batra

Manika Batra
Full nameManika Batra
Nationality Indian
Born (1995-06-15) 15 June 1995 (age 29)
Delhi, India
Height1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Weight67 kg (148 lb)
Table tennis career
Playing styleShakehand grip
Highest ranking24 (May 2024)
Current ranking25 (Nov 2024)
Club
Medal record
Women's table tennis
Representing  India
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Women's team
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Women's singles
Silver medal – second place 2018 Gold Coast Women's doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Gold Coast Mixed doubles
Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Jakarta Mixed doubles
Asian Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Astana Women's team
Asian Cup
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Bangkok Women's singles
South Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2016 Guwahati Women's team
Gold medal – first place 2016 Guwahati Women's doubles
Gold medal – first place 2016 Guwahati Mixed doubles
Silver medal – second place 2016 Guwahati Women's singles

Manika Batra (born 15 June 1995) is an Indian table tennis player.[2] She is a triple gold medalist at the South Asian Games, a double gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games, and a bronze medalist at the Asian Games, Asian Championships, and Asian Cup. She is India's number two in women and her world rank is 27 as of Nov 2024.[3]

Batra is the first Indian woman to have won a bronze at the Asian Cup.[4] She is one of the players who uses a long pimple rubber.[5] She was honored with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2020.[6]

Early life

Batra was born on 15 June 1995 as the youngest of three children.[7] She hails from Naraina Vihar in Delhi.[8] She began playing table tennis at the age of four.[9] Her sister Anchal and brother Sahil both played table tennis, with Anchal having an influence on her during her early playing career.[10] After winning a match in a state-level under-8 tournament, Batra decided to train under coach Sandeep Gupta who suggested her to switch to Hans Raj Model School where he ran his academy.[3] She turned down many modelling offers as a teenager.[1]

When she was 16, she declined a scholarship to train at the Peter Karlsson Academy in Sweden.[11] She studied at Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi for a year before dropping out to focus on table tennis.[12]

Career

Manika Batra in action at 2019 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, Odisha, India

In 2011, Batra won the silver medal in the under-21 category of the Chile Open.[9] She represented India at the 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, where she finished quarterfinalist,[3] as well as the 2014 Asian Games. She won three medals at the 2015 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships,[10] winning silver in the women's team event (with Ankita Das and Mouma Das) as well as the women's doubles event (with Ankita Das) and bronze in the women's singles event.[13]

Batra won three gold medals at the 2016 South Asian Games,[14] winning the women's doubles event (with Pooja Sahasrabudhe), mixed doubles event (with Anthony Amalraj) and women's team event (with Mouma Das and Shamini Kumaresan). Batra was denied a fourth gold medal at the Games by Mouma Das, who defeated her in the final of the women's singles event.[15]

2016 Summer Olympics

Batra qualified for the women's singles event of the 2016 Summer Olympics by winning the South Asia group of the qualification tournament in April 2016.[16] However, her appearance at the 2016 Olympics short-lived, as she lost to Katarzyna Grzybowska of Poland in the first round of the women's individual event.[17]

Batra led the Indian women's team to a gold medal win in the final against four-time gold medalists and defending champions Singapore at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.[18] The Singapore women's table tennis team had never lost in the Commonwealth Games since the sport was inducted in the program in 2002. Batra defeated world number 4 Feng Tianwei as well as Zhou Yihan in India's 3–1 win in the final.[19]

Batra and Mouma Das won India's maiden silver medal in the women's doubles category at the 2018 Commonwealth Games losing to defending champions Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu of Singapore in the gold medal clash. Batra became the first Indian woman to bag a commonwealth table tennis individual gold medal in CWG 2018 by beating Yu Mengyu of Singapore. She won 4 medals in 4 events she was participating out of which 2 are gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal.[20]

At the 2019 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, Batra was the member of the women's team which win the gold by defeating Singapore in the final.[21]

2020 Summer Olympics

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Batra reached the third round of the women's singles event, becoming the first Indian paddler to reach the third round at the Olympics in a singles event.[22][23][24]

Batra won the 2021 WTT Contender Budapest mixed doubles with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran by outplaying Hungary's Dora Madarasz and Nandor Ecseki 3-1.[25] Batra then won wtt contender Lasko 2021 women's doubles with Archana Girish Kamath by beating Diaz Sisters pair of Melanie Diaz and Adriana Diaz from Puerto Rico 11-3, 11-8, 12-10. The Indian duo saved four game points in the third set to seal the match.[26]

2022

Batra participated at the 1st ever WTT Grand Smash event which was the Singapore Smash 2022. In the singles her run ended in the 1st round after losing to Zhang Mo.[27] In the mixed doubles she and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran lost top seeds Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I Ching in straight games 3-0. In the women's doubles event she and Archana Girish Kamath lost to Japanese pair of Hina Hayata and Mima Itō 3-0 in the Quarter-finals.[28]

Batra settled for silver at WTT Contender Doha 2022 with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in mixed doubles where they lost against the top-seeded Chinese Taipei pair of Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I-Ching. The Indians lost 4-11, 5-11, 3-11 in straight games.[29] Batra then bagged a bronze at WTT Star Contender Doha 2022 in women's doubles event with Archana Girish Kamath. They lost in the Semi-finals to Li Yu-Jhun and Cheng I-Ching 8-11, 6-11, 7-11.[30]

On 5 April 2022, the pair of Batra and Archana Girish Kamath reached the pair ranking of world no. 4 which is the highest ever ranking by an Indian Table Tennis player in all categories (Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, Mixed Doubles).[31]

Manika won historic Bronze medal in Asian Cup 2022 where she took down Top 10 paddlers - Chen Xingtong and Hina Hayata of China and Japan respectively.

2024

In the Round of 32 at Saudi Smash 2024, She defeated former World Champion & WR2 Wang Manyu of China, which is one of the biggest wins in her career. She cruised upto Quarter finals in that event, her best result ever in the Grand Smash events.

2024 Summer Olympics

At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Batra reached the Round of 16 of the women's singles event by beating the home favourite Prithika Pavade, to become the first Indian paddler to reach the Round of 16 at the Olympics in a singles event.[32] However, she lost 1-4 to Japan's Miu Hirano in five games.[33] She qualified to Quarterfinals of WTT Champions Montpellier 2024 by beating Romania's Bernadette Szőcs and became the first Indian to do so in WTT Champions Events.

In the media

Batra was featured on the cover of the July 2018 issue of Femina.[34] She starred in the November 2018 edition of Vogue India.[35] In 2024, she featured on the October cover of Cosmopolitan China.[36]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Result Ref(s)
2018 Arjuna Award Outstanding Performance in Sports Won
ITTF Star Awards Breakthrough Star Won
2019 Indian Sports Honours Women's Breakthrough of the Year Nominated [37]
2020 Khel Ratna Award Spectacular Performance in the Field of Sports Won

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Manika Batra". Glasgow 2014. Archived from the original on 18 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  2. ^ "Manika Batra | Profile". World Table Tennis. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "ITTF Table Tennis Rankings". ITTF. 31 July 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Manika Batra becomes the first Indian woman to win a bronze at the Asian Cup - Cosmopolitan India". www.cosmopolitan.in. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  5. ^ "ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking". ittf.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  6. ^ "'It motivates me to work harder': Manika Batra on winning Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna". DNA India. 29 August 2020. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  7. ^ Judge, Shahid (3 July 2016). "India's table tennis hope for Rio 2016 Olympics – Manika Batra". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  8. ^ "Paddler Manika Batra completes hat-trick of gold medals at South Asian Games". News18. 10 February 2016. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  9. ^ a b "Manika Batra: the new hope of the nation". The Hindu. 21 August 2011. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  10. ^ a b Ghoshal, Shuvro (11 February 2016). "Interview with Manika Batra: "I don't want to go to Rio Olympics and return without a medal"". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  11. ^ Judge, Shahid (18 December 2015). "Improved fitness key to Manika Batra's consistency". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  12. ^ Patra, Pratyush (6 May 2016). "Delhi love & Rio talk before Olympics". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  13. ^ Keerthivasan, K. (21 December 2015). "Singapore sweeps singles titles". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  14. ^ "Rio Zone – Manika Batra: Nation's new hope". Pune Mirror. 1 June 2016. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  15. ^ "South Asian Games: India clean sweeps 12 medals in Table Tennis". Ten Sports. 10 February 2016. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  16. ^ "Table Tennis: Soumyajit Ghosh, Manika Batra book Rio Olympics berths with victories in Asian Qualifiers". DNA India. 14 April 2016. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  17. ^ "Rio Olympics 2016: Mouma Das, Manika Batra lose as Indian women's challenge in table tennis ends". First Post. 6 August 2016. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  18. ^ "Manika Batra leads India to historic women Table Tennis gold at Commonwealth Games". The Economic Times. 8 April 2018. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  19. ^ "CWG 2018: India women win gold in table tennis team event". Commonwealth Games News. Times of India. 8 April 2018. Archived from the original on 8 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  20. ^ "Manika Batra wins bronze in the mixed doubles to win her fourth medal". 14 April 2018. Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  21. ^ "Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships: India men, women paddlers storm into final". Retrieved 19 July 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  22. ^ "Manika Batra – All You Need To Know". SportsTiger. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  23. ^ "Tokyo Olympics | Manika Batra stuns Ukraines's Margaryta Pesotska to reach third round". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  24. ^ "Tokyo Olympics: Manika Batra bows out with 3rd round loss to Austria's Polcanova". hindustantimes. 26 July 2021. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  25. ^ "Manika Batra, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran win 2021 WTT Contender Budapest mixed doubles title". 20 August 2021. Archived from the original on 20 August 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  26. ^ "Manika and Archana win their maiden women's doubles title in Slovenia". The Times of India. 7 November 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  27. ^ "Singapore Smash 2022: G Sathiyan Prevails; Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra Make First Round Exit". 12 March 2022. Archived from the original on 13 March 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  28. ^ "Indian Campaign Ends in Singapore Smash after Exit of Manika Batra-Archana Kamath Pair". 15 March 2022. Archived from the original on 15 March 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  29. ^ "WTT Contender: Manika Batra-G Sathiyan pair settle for silver, Sharath Kamal ends up with bronze". ThePrint. 25 March 2022. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  30. ^ "Manika-Archana pair settles for bronze in WTT Star Contender". The Times of India. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  31. ^ "Manika Batra and Archana Kamath create history, become first Indian to reach number 4 in ITTF rankings". 5 April 2022. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  32. ^ "Paris Olympics 2024: Manika Batra Sinks France's Pavade in Four Straight Games to Seal Historic Round of 16 Spot". News 18. 30 July 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  33. ^ Sriram, Siddarth (31 July 2024). "Paris Olympics 2024: Manika Batra Falls to Japan's Miu Hirano in Five Games, Crashes Out in Round of 16". www.news18.com. Network18 Media and Investments Ltd. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  34. ^ "India's golden girls glam up Femina's latest cover". Rediff. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  35. ^ "Did you know Manika Batra turned down modelling as a career?". Mid-day. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  36. ^ "Manika Batra on Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
  37. ^ "Winners | ISH 2019". Indian Sports Honours. Retrieved 19 October 2024.