Paris Olympics TT: Manika takes Indian women to QFs

Paris, Aug 5: She is a fighter. She is aggressive and intense. She even does not hesitate to speak her mind, if there is a need. Because whatever she does, she does that with lot of passion and commitment.

Indian table tennis star Manika Batra is a national pride and she is no stranger in world table tennis. 

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On Monday, Manika was instrumental in taking Indian women's Table Tennis team to the quarterfinals of the Paris Games 2024.

Indian women beat Romania in a five set thriller 3-2 in the round of 16. India had started on fire as Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath teamed up to take the lead in the team match. 

The onus was on Manika, who followed it up with her singles win to take a two set lead for India. 

But there was more drama. Because Sreeja Akula lost her game and Archana Kamath also lost her singles game as India had squandered their 2 set lead. 

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It was  like a do or die situation for India. With the match at 2-2, the momentum was with Romania and they looked like they were going to pull off an amazing comeback win.   

But as always Manika fought with all her might. She perhaps had different plans as she took responsibility and stormed to victory in three games to take India over the line and send them through the Quarterfinals. 

Worth mentioning that prior to the Paris Olympics, Manika had achieved a new career high with World No 24 in the latest ITTF Rankings. She also regained the No 1 Indian female table tennis player rank.

The 28-year-old had a successful outing at Saudi Smash recently. Manika made headlines after defeating World No 2 Wang Manyu of China in Saudi. The Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) athlete, however, failed to move past the quarters after losing to Hina Yayata.

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The outing in Paris is set to be Manika's third-straight Olympic games participation and she has her priorities in place. 

The Khel Ratna awardee Manika appears to be in fine touch. If she can continue her fine run and her teammates perform well in quarterfinals, an entry into the semifinals or a medal finish in Paris Games is definitely possible.