Manika hopes to be Saina and Sindhu of TT

Manika Batra, who has become toast of the nation after her sensational run at the Gold Coast Games, is hoping that she has done enough to spark a table tennis revolution in India like Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu did for badminton.

The 22-year-old bagged medals in all four events on offer including an unprecedented gold in the women’s singles and team championship.

“It is slowly sinking in (the four medals). Hope they are enough for our sport to go the badminton way. The achievement will have a lot more significance if it turns out that way for table tennis in India,” the soft-spoken and sleep deprived Batra told PTI after arriving at the Delhi airport to a rousing reception, the kind of she is not used to as a TT player.

The Delhi girl set the real and the virtual world on fire following her jaw-dropping feat with none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the chorus of congratulatory messages.

She downed triple Olympic medallist and world number 4 Feng Tianwei of Singapore not just once but twice.

“The reaction has been unbelievable. It felt great when the likes of Saina, Sindhu and Sushil Kumar congratulated me at the Games Village,” she said.

And she did surprise herself by beating Feng twice.

“To beat her twice was really satisfying and I had to change my game in both matches to do that. It has given a huge boost to my confidence,” said the 58th-ranked Indian.

A self-proclaimed introvert, Batra lets her racket do the talking. Her ‘unthinkable’ effort Down Under is also a sharp snub to the critics of the pimpled rubber which she used to deceive her rivals including the mighty Feng.

It was surreal to spot Batra switch sides of her racket at lightening speed during points, leaving her opponents in doubt about what was coming next.