Manika Batra is the best table tennis player in India. The Indian paddler on Friday qualified for the quarter-finals of the WTT Champions competition in Montpellier, France. She gained the victory over Bernadette Szocs in the round of 16. The World No. 30 outplayed the No. 14 with scores of 11-9, 6-11, 13-11, and 11-9. She became the first Indian to reach the quarterfinals of a WTT Champions event.
This is a massive achievement for the Indian peddler. She defeated the Romanian at the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier this year by a score of 3-2. The 29-year-old then became the first Indian table tennis player to go to the round of 16 in an Olympic singles table tennis tournament. She won the game 3-1 this time. However, the competition was tough and intense between the two peddlers.
Manika Batra won the first game before Szocs rallied to win the second game and tie the score at 1-1. Manika went on to save two game points in the third game and lead Szocs 7-4 in the fourth. Szocs tried a comeback in the fourth game, but Batra won 11-9. Batra will face Qian Tianyi of China in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Qian defeated fellow Chinese paddler Wang Yidi, 3-0, in the round of 16 game.
Manika Batra set the bar too high for future players
Is India relying too much on Manika Batra? The peddler has been the nation’s star performer over the years. She has been trying her best to qualify for the finals of the major competitions but missing out on fine margins. There is extra pressure on her as the nation looks up to her for medals in the table tennis category. Sreeja Akula, who was another Indian contender, was narrowly defeated 3-2.
She lost 6-11, 11-7, 11-1, 8-11, 11-8 by World No. 13 Adriana Diaz from Puerto Rico in the opening round. India needs to work on the grassroots infrastructure of table tennis, there can be many Manika Batra’s coming out for India in the near future. As of now, there is only Manika who India can rely on for some years.
