TURNING THE TABLES

Table tennis player Manika Batra talks about the changing perception of the game and the rise of Indian women in the sport

- Suhani Singh

Q.2024 was a breakthrough year for women's table tennis in India with five women in the top 100.

The year was incredible. If you see, not just women but even young girls are doing great. We won the Asian Table Tennis Championship bronze medal and at the Olympics, too, we made it to quarter-finals in the women's team and I reached the round of 16. I can see the growth. There's self-belief now. Earlier, the mindset was that we cannot win against the Chinese, but that's changed in the past few years. I defeated world #2 Wang Manyu.