Table Tennis
Who is Manika Batra? Age, Records, Biography, Medals, Earnings, Olympics performance
With medals in several world tournaments, Manika is a contender to bring home a medal from the Tokyo Olympics; let's take a look at her life and career
It will be difficult for Manika Batra to repeat her heroics from the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the upcoming CWG 2022 (Source: Getty)
Manika Batra, one of India's best table tennis players, has gained prominence since 2018. She had a successful season in 2018, winning multiple medals and demonstrating great potential throughout the season. Manika aspires to build a reputation for herself in the sport, as PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal have done in badminton. This time, she hopes to win a medal at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2020.
How Old is Manika Batra?
Batra was born on June 15, 1995, in Delhi, and is 26 years old. As the youngest child in the family, she began playing table tennis at the age of four, just like both of her siblings. After winning the under-8 tournaments, she decided to seek professional training under the coach Sandeep Gupta.
What are Manika Batra's achievements?
Manika started winning international medals in 2011 when she won silver in the under-21 category at the Chile Open. Manika then represented the country in the 2014 Commonwealth Games as well as the Asian Games in the same year.
In 2016, Batra won three gold medals and one silver medal in the South Asian Games. In April 2016, she qualified for the Rio Olympics by winning in the South Asia group of the qualification event.
Her most impressive win came in the 2018 Commonwealth Games when she defeated Singapore's Yu Mengyu in the final winning the women's singles gold medal.
Manika Batra became the first Indian woman table tennis player to win an individual gold medal at the Commonwealth Games with her victory.
Manika Batra women singles gold medalist at Commonwealth Games 2018
She also guided the Indian women's team to a gold medal in the final, defeating four-time gold medalists Singapore. The achievement was all the more impressive given that Singapore's women's table tennis team had been winless in the Commonwealth Games since 2002.
Manika won bronze in the mixed doubles event at the 2018 Asian Games. Later that year, she received the ITTF's 'Breakthrough Star' award, making her the only Indian table tennis player to receive the prestigious award.
The Government of India awarded Manika the Arjuna Award in 2018 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2020.
Manika Batra received ITTF's 'Breakthrough Star' award
Earnings
Manika Batra earns Rs. 50,000 each month as part of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports flagship programme, The Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).
Performance in Olympics
Manika earned a spot in the Rio Olympics 2016 after a solid performance in the South Asia Cup, but her Olympic campaign ended too soon after she was eliminated in the first round.
Manika has subsequently established herself securely among the top 100 women's singles players in the world, and she has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in two events, singles as well as mixed doubles, where she will try to bring a medal for the country.
