Manika Batra (born 15 June 1995) is an Indian table tennis player and the country’s most successful woman in the sport. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games she won four medals, including India’s first women’s singles and women’s team golds. She is known for the long-pimpled rubber on her backhand, which she flips during rallies to confuse opponents. She received the Khel Ratna in 2020.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Manika Batra |
| Born | 15 June 1995, Delhi, India |
| Age | 31 |
| Sport | Table tennis |
| Plays | Right-handed, shakehand grip |
| Height | 1.80 m |
| Education | Hans Raj Model School; Jesus and Mary College, Delhi |
| Honours | Arjuna Award (2018), Khel Ratna (2020) |
Early Life
Batra is the youngest of three children from Naraina Vihar in Delhi and began playing at four, following her brother and sister. She changed schools to train under the coach Sandeep Gupta, who taught her to use long pimples on the backhand. As a teenager she turned down modelling offers and left college after a year to concentrate on the sport.
Career
At the Gold Coast Games she beat Singapore’s Feng Tianwei, then ranked fourth in the world, twice. India won the women’s team gold, ending Singapore’s hold on the event, and she won the singles gold, the women’s doubles silver with Mouma Das and the mixed doubles bronze with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran. She won mixed doubles bronze with Sharath Kamal at the Asian Games that year, India’s first medal in the sport at the Games.
At the Tokyo Olympics she reached the third round. She accused the national coach of asking her to lose a match in 2021; a court-appointed panel upheld her complaint and the federation’s management was replaced. In November 2022 she won bronze at the Asian Cup in Bangkok, the first Indian woman to win a medal there. In 2024 she reached a career-high world ranking of 24, beat the world number two Wang Manyu at the Saudi Smash and reached the last 16 at the Paris Olympics, the first Indian to go that far in singles.
Personal Life
Batra lives in Delhi and trains in India and Europe. She has appeared on magazine covers and is one of the most recognisable faces of Indian Olympic sport.
Awards and Honours
Major Medals
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Manika Batra born?
Manika Batra was born on 15 June 1995 in Delhi, India and is 31 years old.
What honours has Manika Batra received?
Arjuna Award (2018), Khel Ratna (2020).
Featured image: Manika Batra plays at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, Cuttack, July 2019. Photo by Government of Odisha, licensed under CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
