Manika Batra
-1 
India
-1
India
Manika Batra is a highly accomplished table tennis player from India, known for her exceptional skills and numerous achievements in the sport. Born on June 15, 1995, in Delhi, Batra started playing at the young age of 5 with her siblings. Since then, she has won many national and international awards, including two Olympic medals and a Commonwealth Games gold medal.
In addition to her numerous accolades and rankings, Batra has also built a substantial net worth. With her impressive skills and unwavering dedication, Manika Batra has firmly established herself as one of the best paddlers in the world.
Quick Facts
Biography
Manika Batra is an accomplished paddler with black hair and black eyes. She stands at 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs approximately 67 kilograms. Her mentor in table tennis is Sandeep Gupta.
In 2016, Manika Batra achieved a significant milestone in her career by becoming the first Indian female table tennis player to reach the round of 32 at the Rio Olympics, making history in the sport.
Manika Batra gained widespread recognition when she won four medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, including two gold ones. She discovered her passion for table tennis early and played with her older siblings, even declining modeling opportunities in her teenage years to concentrate on the sport.
Personal Life
Manika was raised in a Hindu household, and her father supported and influenced her to continue taking up table tennis as a profession. Her elder sister and brother also played table tennis. She currently lives with her family in an apartment in Delhi.
Social Media
You can contact Manika Batra's Instagram @manikabatra.15; she’s also available on Twitter @manikabatra-TT. You can also follow her Facebook page @ Manika Batra.
Career
To commence her career, Manika Batra competed at the Chile Opens and secured a silver medal. She also participated in the Commonwealth event, Glasgow, representing India. She made it to the quarter-finals and participated in the Asian Games the same year.
Manika Batra secured three medals during the Commonwealth Games in 2015. She earned recognition by winning medals in multiple events, specifically a silver medal in the women's doubles and women's team events and a bronze medal in the women's singles. In the subsequent year of 2016, she added three more medals to her collection at the same championship, triumphing in the women's doubles event alongside Pooja Sahasrabudhe, the women's team event alongside Mouma Das and Shamini Kumaresan, and the mixed doubles event with Anthony Amalraj. Nonetheless, she couldn't grab a fourth medal in the women's singles event, which Mouma Das seized.
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, Manika Batra won the women's doubles event, earning a silver medal after losing to Singapore's defending champions. She subsequently created history by defeating Yu Mengyu to win the Commonwealth Table Tennis individual gold medal, being the first Indian woman to do so, and she went on to win four medals in all of the competitions in which she competed.
Manika Batra took part in the Summer Olympics in 2020. She accomplished a significant feat by being the first Indian paddler to advance to the third round in an Olympic singles event.
In 2021, Manika Batra emerged victorious in two events; the WTT Contender Budapest mixed doubles and the WTT Contender Lasko 2021 women's event.
In 2022, she participated in the inaugural Grand Smash, where she lost the singles match and the mixed doubles. Manika Batra won the silver medal in the mixed doubles despite losing the women's doubles. At the WTT Star Contender Doha 2022, she won a bronze medal in the women's doubles event.
Playing Style
Manika Batra is right-handed and uses a shakehand grip. Her bamboozling style, usually the deceptive rubber, confuses her opponent with precise shots that are impossible without constant practice. This is not an effortless style to develop and would have required a lot of practice. Owning a ping pong paddle holder helps keep your paddles safe and together between practice. For those who want to protect their ping-pong paddle surfaces, it's worth checking out our reviews of the best paddle holders on the market.
At age 8, Manika Batra’s coach and mentor advised her to switch to long pimple rubber, and she has been using them since then. This helped her discover her dynamic playing style.
Achievements
At the 2011 Chile Open, Manika Batra took home a silver medal in the under-21 division. Along with Anikita Das, she also won a silver medal in the women's team competition at the 2015 Commonwealth Table Tennis Tournament. She won several matches in 2016, including the women's doubles gold medal at the South Asian Games with Pooja Sahasrabudhe and the mixed doubles gold medal match with Anthony Amalraj. She and Shamini Kumaresan, and Mouma Das also brought home a gold medal in the women's team competition at the same competition.
Manika Batra won the Arjuna Award, India's second-highest athletic distinction, as well as the Breakout Star Award from the International Table Tennis Foundation in 2018. She got the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, which is India's highest sporting honor, in 2020.
Table Tennis Championships
Among Manika Batra's accomplishments in table tennis competitions are her bronze medal in mixed doubles at the 2018 Jakarta/Palembang event, her gold medal in women's singles at the 2018 Gold Coast competition, her silver medal in women's doubles, and her gold medal in women's team. She also took home a bronze medal in the women's singles event at the 2022 Bangkok championships.
South Asian Games
Manika Batra earned a silver medal in the women's singles division at the Guwahati/Shillong edition of the South Asian Games 2016. She also took home three gold medals in the women's doubles, women's team, and mixed doubles competitions.
Olympic Games
At the Rio 2016 Olympics, Manika Batra competed in singles and ranked 49th overall. She also participated in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, finishing 9th in mixed doubles and 17th in women's singles.
Manika Batra’s Ranking
Manika Batra's world ranking as of January 2023 is 34th by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), moving up from her previous ranking of 35th.
Net Worth and Income
As of 2021, her net worth was estimated to be around $3 million- $5 million, and she owned a Honda City ZX and a Piaggio Vespa Scooter, which cost about Rs. 14 Lakhs combined.
Manika Batra Equipment
Videos
Final Thoughts
Manika Batra has worked hard and put in the hours of practice and dedication it takes to have achieved so much in her career as a professional table tennis player. Her success can be attributed to her commitment to practicing the skills she has shown us at various tournaments at all levels. Her display of skills also makes tennis enthusiasts worldwide eager to watch her perform in ITTF tournaments. We hope to see more of this fantastic Indian player in future games.