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A Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Olympian, Manika Batra is the poster girl of Indian women's table tennis. She will represent the country at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Manika Batra rose to prominence in 2018 and will be one of the top contenders to win a medal.
Along with the women's singles category, Manika will also represent India at the mixed doubles event with her role model and inspiration, Achanta Sharath Kamal.
Biography
Born in Naraina Vihar in Delhi, Manika Batra started playing table tennis when she was four years old.
The youngest of three siblings, her sister, and her brother also played the sport. Inspired by her elder sister Anchal, Manika took up table tennis.
After winning an age-group state championship, she changed schools to train under her coach Sandeep Gupta. Later on, Manika shifted her base to Pune for better training.
During her teenage days, Manika Batra received a lot of modeling offers. But she turned them down to concentrate on the game, and the result is in front of everyone to see.
Manika aims to be the face of table tennis in India and take the game to greater heights.
How old is Manika Batra?
Born on June 15 in 1995, in Delhi, Manika is currently 26 years old. With significant experience under her belt, Manika will aim big at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
What are Manika Batra's achievements?
Manika shot to fame in 2018 when she won four medals at the Commonwealth Games.
She won gold in the singles category beating Singapore’s Yu Mengyu in the final, before leading India to another gold at the women's team event. They defeated four-time gold medalist Singapore, who were unbeaten in the competition since 2002.
Manika Batra had already grabbed the eyeballs of the table tennis fraternity with three golds at the 2016 South Asian Games. She also made her Olympic debut in 2016 in Rio but crashed out in the first round.
The following year Manika entered the record books when she and Mouma Das became the first Indian table tennis duo to enter the top eight of the World Table Tennis Championships.
Her stock rose quickly, and consistent performances through 2018 saw her win the ITTF’s ‘Breakthrough Star’ award later in the year. Manika Batra is the only Indian table tennis player to win the award.
She also won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event with Sharath Kamal at the 2018 Asian Games.
Manika Batra was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2018 and was also conferred with the highest sporting honor in India - the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award - last year.
Earnings
Arguably the best tennis player in the country, Manika Batra earns INR 50,000 per month as part of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports' flagship program, the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).
Apart from this, she also does a couple of endorsements for popular brands.
Performance in Olympics
Manika had a disastrous campaign at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she crashed out of the competition in the first round. But it was a learning curve for the young table tennis player.
Seeded 61st, Manika Batra will have to play preliminary rounds to make it to the top 32. However, she is one of the top medal contenders for the mixed doubles event with her partner Achanta Sharath Kamal.
