Happy but not totally. says Manika Batra
India's table tennis ace Manika Batra was not as happy as she should have been after being recommended for the Arjuna Award for her coach missed out on the Dronacharya Award. Expressing her disappointment after not winning the Khel Ratna, she stated that she would again try next year.
Batra led the table tennis contingent to a historic Commonwealth Games gold and won the women’s singles gold earlier this year. It was followed by a bronze medal in Asian Games mixed doubles, where she paired with veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal. Her impressive performance fetched her the Arjuna award, which was really the icing on the cake but Batra was only partially satisfied with
Table Tennis, so far, has seen only one coach get Dronacharya Award, which was back in 2012 when Bhawani Mukherjee received it. Touted as the only table tennis coach to produce two Olympic players in Neha Agarwal and Manika Batra, Gupta missed out on the Dronacharya Award, yet again. And now Batra has vowed to work harder for coach Sandeep Gupta next year.
"Yes, I wanted him to get the award. But it is the government's decision and we have to respect that. I will work harder so that he gets it next time," Manika told PTI.
"I have four tournaments to go on the Pro Tour. The target is to be in top-30, for that I need to beat some top players. The men's team is doing well and that is also motivating," Batra added.
Batra is trying to make a foothold in a sport which has not always been a strength for India. The Chinese have always been a dominant force in the world of Table Tennis but the 58th ranked paddler has already beaten a few better-ranked players like the world no.4 Feng Tianwei and Zhou Yihan, exuding positive vibes.
Hoping to beat the world’s best she added, "Even the Chinese are scared of us. Earlier, the mindset was that they were unbeatable but not anymore. We can beat them."