Manika Batra is an Indian table tennis player and as of November 2022, the female table tennis player in India is ranked 44th in the world. Batra became the first Indian paddler to win a medal in the ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup after shocking world number six Hina Hayata of Japan in the bronze play-off on Saturday.
Let us know her educational qualification and her journey to becoming a sports star:
Early Life
Manika Batra was born on 15 June 1995 as the youngest of three children. She hails from Naraina Vihar in Delhi and began playing table tennis at the age of four. Her elder sister Anchal and elder brother Sahil both played table tennis, with Anchal having an influence on her during her early playing career.
Initially, she started getting training in Table Tennis from her siblings as her sister and brother used to play table tennis. After that, she got professional training under Sandeep Gupta who used to run his academy at Hans Raj Model School, New Delhi.
Received Modelling Offers
During her teenage days, Manika got lots of modelling offers but she rejected to make her career in Table Tennis. At the age of 16, she applied for a scholarship to receive training from Peter Karlsson Academy in Sweden, Europe. However, she declined the scholarship afterward. She studied at the Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi, but dropped out of college when she was in her first year of graduation for pursuing a career in Table Tennis.
Career
At the age of 8, for the first time, Manika Batra won the Under-8 state-level tournament. She represented the country for the first time when she was just 13. She made her debut in 2014 and has aspired to make table tennis a known sport. The Delhi-born paddler came back empty-handed in the 2014 edition of the Commonwealth and Asian Games. But the following year onwards, she went on to win medals in both the Commonwealth TT Championship and the South Asian game editions.
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The paddler qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics; however, her stint ended soon as she was ousted in the first round of the women’s individual event by Poland’s Katarzyna Grzybowska. Batra went on to shine at the 2018 edition of the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. She bagged four medals in four events which include two gold, one silver, and one bronze medal.
Batra also qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by winning the South Asia Group Qualification. However, her challenge ended in the third round of the women’s singles event.
Awards and Achievement
In November 2022 Manika Batra became the first Indian paddler to win a medal in the ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup after shocking world number six Hina Hayata of Japan in the bronze play-off. Batra was also bestowed with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award (2020) and is an Arjuna Awardee (2018).
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