Aiming for a place in the top 30 for Olympics qualification: Manika Batra

Star Indian table tennis player Manika Batra said on Monday that she wants to get into the top 30 to directly qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

Batra, in an interaction with ANI, said, “Everyone dreams about Olympic gold, so do I. But I will move step by step. I have to improve my rankings in the forthcoming international tournaments next year. I will try to position myself under top 30 so that I can qualify for Olympics directly.”

On her qualification for the multi-nation competition, she said that she is trying and learning new techniques and also working hard on her fitness.

“”After the Asian Games I have already started my training for the Olympics and it is going really well. I think overseas players now know about my game so I will have to change my playing style. I want to do something different and for that, I am training. I am working on my fitness because I have to defeat other Asians, so I have to be very quick. I am working hard for 2019,”the Commonwealth Games gold medallist said.

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Batra was recently awarded the ‘Breakthrough Table Tennis Star’ at the International Table Tennis star awards heaped praise on the various schemes of the government and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

“”The government is providing brilliant support to every player including those who cannot afford. It motivates players as well to do better. In India, the game transformed after Common Wealth Games. It didn’t happen only from our side but also from the government’s side. Especially our sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who has been a sports person. So he knows what an athlete needs,” she said.

On her achievements this year, she said, “The year 2018 has been very important for me. I won many tournaments this year. It all started with the nationals and zone level. After that, in the Common Wealth Games, I bagged two gold medals, which no one had ever won in the history of table tennis. We also beat Singapore in the team event, which never happened before.”