After Gold Coast, onus on Batra to keep up fine form
GOLD COAST : India’s table tennis campaign established Manika Batra as not only the star to watch out for in India but on the world stage as well. The 22-year-old on Sunday won the mixed doubles bronze with G Sathiyan, beating Achanta Sharath Kamal and Mouma Das in an all-india affair.
That took her medals tally from Gold Coast to four --- two gold (team and women’s singles), silver in women’s doubles and the mixed doubles bronze, making her the most successful table tennis player in the Games.
On the final day, India picked up bronze in mixed doubles and men’s singles, Sharath Kamal claiming it by beating Samuel Walker of England 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10.
Manika spearheaded India’s challenge as they won the women’s team competition for the first time, beating Singapore’s world No 4 Tanwei Feng in the first singles. The win gave her teammates the confidence that they could beat Singapore, the dominant force at Commonwealth Games. Manika came back to win another singles to clinch a 3-1 win for India.
What caught the imagination of fans was her win in the women’s singles final. Who would have imagined that the world No 58 could beat Mengyu Yu, Singapore’s second-highest ranked singles player again.
Singapore would have figured out her tactics to keep the racquet close to the body, switching sides to use the long pimpled rubber to counter the spin and use chop and block to upset their rhythm. But they could not counter her tactics and ability to execute the plan perfectly.
Manika devised the strategy to block on the backhand and counter from forehand with chief coach Massimo Constantini. The Italian was proud of her performance and credited hard work and determination for her performance.
While the spotlight has been on young Manika, the seasoned Sharath Kamal too had a successful campaign as he won three medals, gold, silver and bronze. Gold medallist in 2006 at Melbourne, he guided India to the men’s team title. The 35-year-old bagged bronze in men’s singles and with some luck could have ended with gold in men’s doubles.
Now that the Games are over, the next challenge for Manika is to continue the success on the world stage with players from China, Japan and South Korea in the fray. With success will come scrutiny as till now she has functioned under the radar.