Paris 2024 Olympics – Table Tennis – Women’s Team Round of 16 – South Paris Arena 4, Paris, France – August 05, 2024. Manika Batra of India in action during her round of 16 team match against Bernadette Szocs of Romania. (REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji)
As has been the case on myriad occasions, Manika Batra was the lone star as the Indian women’s team lost their semifinal match against Japan at the Asian TT Championships in Astana on Wednesday. The 1-3 final scoreline in the semis hardly told the real story as in two of the three matches India lost, it could’ve gone either way.
The women’s team had already secured their first-ever medal at the Championships when they stunned second seeds Korea the previous day. Winning against Japan, the Olympic silver medallists was always going to be a Herculean task, but the women’s team has a knack for springing a surprise against the world’s best.
Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula may have got their world-beater status with their wins over Chinese World No.1 Sun Yingsha and then-World No. 2 Wang Yidi earlier this year, but the fact remains Manika has been repeatedly shattering the glass ceiling.
On Wednesday, she brought India back into the contest with her unmatchable grit and sharp reflexes. Playing against 20-year-old World No. 16 Satsuki Odo, who has won five WTT titles already this year, Manika was supposed to be the underdog. But not for a moment during the match, you would’ve thought so.
As is her style, she likes to impose herself early on and try to put her opponent under pressure, especially against someone not used to playing against a player with long pimples. But Manika, whose trademark is her twiddling attack, didn’t really have to use her choice of weapon. She surprised Satsuki with forehand attacks and just ran away with the game, showing that she may have a defensive rubber, but her mindset is always to attack.
With Ayhika losing a close opening encounter to World No. 7 Miwa Harimoto 2-3 (8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 7-4) and Sutirtha Mukherjee being absolutely blown away by Japan’s second best paddler, World No. 9 Mima Ito 0-3 (11-9, 11-4, 15-13), it was down to Manika to keep India in the match against Miwa.
The 29-year-old, though, couldn’t handle Miwa’s pace and spin the second upset of the day. The only time it looked like she and India had a chance to claw their way back was when Manika took the second game 11-6 but the Japanese had enough and powered through Manika’s defence to win the next two games and the match 3-1 (11-6, 6-11, 11-2, 11-3)
Manav-Manika begin in style
One of the most anticipated partnerships at these Championships was Manika and 24-year-old Manav Thakkar partnering in mixed doubles.
Manika had split with G Sathiyan after the Olympics and Manav was left without a partner after Archana Kamath retired from the sport so national coach Massimo Costantini suggested the two partner each other in this Olympic cycle.
Though they were playing against relatively easy opponents in Uzbekistan’s Shokhrukh Iskandrov and Markhabo Magdieva, they complemented each other well to win their Round of 32 match in straight games (11-4, 11-6, 11-5). Manav told The Indian Express that they were able to coordinate well and he felt the partnership is here to stay. “When I’m playing with Manika, I don’t have to change my singles style at all. I have to just continue doing what I’m doing in singles. We were both moving well and enjoyed having longer rallies so it was fun to play. It will be interesting when we come up against tougher opponents,” he said.
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