Commonwealth Games 2018: Delhi Government announces cash reward for Manika Batra

Every once in a while there comes an athlete who forces the world to sit up and take notice. It is then that the appreciation starts pouring in in the form of cash rewards, support and encouragement. Manika Batra is one such star. After her wonderful performance in the final of the Women's Team Table Tennis Event at the ongoing Commonwealth Games, Manish Sisodia, the Deputy Chief Minister of New Delhi, the home of Manika, has announced an astounding cash reward for the paddler under the State Government's Sports Policy. "The Delhi government will give Rs 14 lakh to Manika Batra," the deputy chief minister told the House. Under the policy, it is specified that an amount of Rs 14 lakh is given to a Commonwealth Games Gold medal winner, while Rs 10 lakh is given to silver medal winner. A Bronze medalist is allocated an amount of Rs 6 lakh. Earlier this week, Manika Batra seemed to be in superb form as he propelled her team to finishing on top against Singapore in the Women's Team Table Tennis event. The World No. 58 from India, Batra did the unthinkable after defeating much higher ranked world number four and multiple Olympic medallist Feng Tianwei 3-2. Post this amazing clash, she took on 100th-ranked Yihan Zhou 3-0 to engineer a sensational win.

Also read: Looking back on 2017: Mouma Das and Manika Batra reigned world table tennis Since the Team Event began and was introduced in the Commonwealth Games, Singapore have been the only side winning the top honours in the tournament. Riding on the momentum from Manika's two victories, the Indian team was heartened enough to do the unthinkable- defeat the mighty team from Singapore and clinch a historic Gold. This is now the time of Manika Batra. In a country where you are not paid attention unless you do something absolutely marvelous, Batra has made sure to grab eyeballs for the right reasons. We can now only hope that this spurt of encouragement she is getting remains consistent in the near future.