Manika Batra looked skyward and covered her head with her palms, before burying it briefly in a white towel. It was an unusual display of emotion for the Indian table tennis player. But then, this was an unusual victory.

Batra had just beaten World No. 2 Wang Manyu of China, for the biggest victory of her career. It catapulted her to a quarter-final finish at the prestigious Saudi Smash in May (Smash events rank highest on the World Table Tennis tour), and to 24th spot in the world rankings. Both were firsts for an Indian woman in table tennis singles.

Being a trailblazer is not new to Batra. In 2018, she became the first Indian woman to capture an individual table tennis gold at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Queensland. She is now ranked 28th globally, and although she’s had a bit of a quiet run in the last couple of tournaments — Round of 16 exits in WTT Contender Lagos and WTT Contender Tunis —she remains India’s biggest hope in this sport, as the Paris Olympics begin this month.

It’s a credible hope.

In the six years since she first broke into the World Top 100, Batra hasn’t fallen out of it. She has not slipped below the Top 50 since 2022. It’s a kind of consistency rarely seen in the game in India. “The biggest factors have been my dedication, adaptability and support system,” says Batra, 29. “I constantly try to adapt my game, learn and look for new techniques and strategies to stay ahead.”

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Born in Delhi, Batra’s progression through the junior international and senior domestic circuit was smooth. Her career breakthrough came with CWG in 2018. She swept four medals, including the women’s singles and team gold, and was a wave of freshness in a sport largely headlined by one person in India, since the turn of the century: the legendary Sharath Kamal.

With her long-pimpled rubber and deceptive backhand, Batra is wooing new audiences. She is already something of a sportstar, a rare thing for this game in India.

Her Instagram feed — a mix of workout clips, highlights from play, and breezy summer looks and moods — has over 343,000 followers, an unusually high figure for a non-cricket female sportsperson in India. “I have always wanted to elevate the status of this sport in our country. It’s one of my big dreams to inspire young boys and girls across the nation to pursue table tennis,” Batra says.

Her own sudden success, she adds, has pushed her to evolve as a person. “The few downs in my career, especially the period without many wins and medals, have kept me humble. I have learnt that there is always room to grow.”

She is referring to recent medal-less years, including an empty-handed return from the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and from last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games.

The testing times have taught her that it isn’t enough to simply believe.

In 2022, Batra switched coaches and began working with Aman Balgu, a former player who now runs an academy in Hyderabad. She won bronze at the 2022 Asian Cup soon after, becoming the first Indian woman to medal at the event.

Over the past year, she has worked to develop her attacking play. Her forehand now complements the much-famed long-pimpled backhand rubber that flummoxed players when she first burst onto the scene.

Batra knows her career will be a race to move from one such weapon to the next.

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Win or lose, the young sportstar knows she is living the dream.

“When I step onto the table tennis court, I feel like a warrior,” she says. “My racquet is like my sword and shield. The long-pimpled side acts as a shield, stopping and controlling the game, while the black side is my sword, from where I launch attacks.”

Beating Wang told her she was on track in terms of fitness too. China remains the litmus test. That country has long had a stranglehold on the sport, and five of the world’s top six women paddlers are currently Chinese.

“I’ve realised the importance of stamina and agility, particularly when competing against the top players of China and Japan,” Batra says. In addition to winning against Wang and World No. 6 Chen Xingtong, also of China, she has defeated World No. 5 Hina Hayata of Japan, and numerous other players from within the top 20.

Her fearlessness is a big part of what makes Batra dangerous. When she gets going, she has the ability to dictate the pace of play and disrupt the rhythm of an ace player. Then she attacks, and can feel twice as hard to beat.

In Paris, she will compete in the women’s singles and team events. “My most cherished dream is to be the first Indian table tennis player to win an Olympic medal,” she says. “That’s what drives me to push my limits.”

She knows it is her mind she must master, especially when the score slips. The words of her Belarusian sparring partner, Kirill Barabanov, often ring in her ears.

“Kirill always tells me that if you’re 8-0 down, you have to believe you can make it 8-8 and even 10-8… That mindset has been helping me lately,” she says. “I have to believe I can turn a match around, at any point, and win.”