Manika Batra

Some Lesser Known Facts About Manika Batra

• Manika started playing Table Tennis when she was just 5 years old.

• 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.

• Her father suffers from some mental health issues. Despite that, he supports her and watch her every match on television.

• At the age of 8, for the first time, she won the Under-8 state-level tournament.

• Manika has first represented ‘India’ in 2008 when she was only 13 years old.

• At the age of 16, she applied for a scholarship to receive training from Peter Karlsson Academy in Sweden, Europe.

• She dropped out of college when she was in the first year of graduation for pursuing her career in Table Tennis.

• As of 2017, she has represented ‘India’ multiple times, that is, in 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2014 Asian Games, 2015  Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, 2016 South Asian Games, and 2016 Summer Olympics.

• During her teenage days, Manika got lots of modelling offers but she rejected to make her career in Table Tennis.

• When she was 22 years old, she ranked ’58’ among the world’s female Table Tennis players.

• In 2018, Manika was the part of Table Tennis Indian women’s team who received a Gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia by defeating Singapore women’s team with 3-1.

  

• On 25 September 2018, the Government of India conferred Manika Batra with the Arjuna Award.