Interview: For Paddler Manika Batra, Pressure To Grow Is A Privilege She Doesn’t Take Lightly

I’m reminded of Marcus Aurelius’s words when I talk to Indian Tennis player Manika Batra. “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way,” wrote Aurelius. Batra’s quest to turn her roadblocks into wins began much earlier and her ability to do that has only polished with time. Scripting history isn’t new either to Manika Batra. At 29, the Delhi girl holds many titles and medals to her credit, and her latest achievement at the Paris Olympics is both historic and praiseworthy. 

Ranked world number 28, Batra is now the first Indian paddler ever to make it to the round of 16 at the Olympics. As Batra gears to play yet another history-making match on July 31, we look back at what makes her one of India’s most recognised Table Tennis players. In an exclusive interview with SheThePeople right before the Paris Games, Manika Batra shared intricate details of her preparation process - what makes her steady, how she focuses on the present moment and not the result, and why she never equates pressure as a negative notion in both life and sports. 

Manika Batra’s Journey To Growth

Batra, whose older siblings introduced her to the game, when she was not even 5, knew that she was destined for a bigger stage when she won an under-8 state-level tournament. Several junior tournaments later, she won India a silver medal in the under-21 category at the Chile Open in 2011. “To be honest, my childhood experiences did shape my path, and I’m grateful for my family that has always been supportive. So, I'm really thankful to them. While I had a passion for table tennis, it only evolved organically. You can say with time and effort. It was a mixture of everything,” she recalls.

Batra went on to represent the country and reached the quarter-finals both at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2014. The paddler, who clinched three medals at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in 2015, was now looking to dominate the sport with more vigour and preparation. She qualified for the Rio Olympics after winning gold medals in the South Asian Games earlier that year, and while her Olympic 2016 journey was short-lived with a first-round defeat, she bounced back at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Batra had arrived, and her historic gold medal in the women's team event only added validation to her quest. 

"Pressure only fuels me to move forward"

The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee (2020) and Arjuna Awardee (2018), who achieved a career-high ranking of 31 in 2023, shares the go-to mantra she uses when it comes to pressure. “Of course, there will be pressure. Not only for me but for all players, even the ones who have started. At this level, the expectations with which I'm playing now are increasing. What works for me is treating the pressure as a challenge that will only fuel me to move forward. Without pressures to do well, there won’t be any drive to win either. Pressure leads life and life leads pressure. You cannot avoid it.”

Victories including a gold in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in 2019 followed by double wins win at the WTT Contender 2021, and then achieving a career-high doubles ranking of 4 with Archana Kamath in 2022, contributed to Batra’s road to the Olympics. While she crashed out at the Tokyo Olympics, she did make history as the first Indian women's table tennis player to reach the round of 32 in singles. 

What is the one thing her coach tells her whenever she sets foot on the court? 

"To be honest, my coach just tells me to enjoy whatever I'm doing, be it training or competition. Of course, I’m told to focus give my best effort and put my training to use but even along that, I’m advised to enjoy the game - enjoy my love for Table Tennis. I try to soak it all in because if I don’t, I know I’ll regret it later. And he always says that you just give your best effort, and apply what you have trained. So, I just try to be in that moment."

"Accepting that your journey is your own is key to not comparing yourself to others"

Batra understands more than anyone that sports require another level of mental strength. To protect one’s mental health, especially when situations are out of one’s control, takes a lot from a player. 

For Batra, not reliving the past and also not fixating on the future works big time. “Mental strength is vital for everyone today. Personally, I maintain balance through meditation and visualisation while focusing on the aspects of the game I can control. I don’t think of what happened in the past and what's going to happen in the future. I try to savour the present moment. With competitions increasing not just in sports but in life as well and everyone wanting to be ahead of each other, people’s mental health can decline rapidly. Accepting that your journey is your own is what will eventually give you stability and peace.”

Finding inspiration in women who broke barriers

For the country to take female athletes more seriously, all stakeholders need to come together. In Batra’s opinion, a lot of good work has been done in this regard, which only is a stepping stone to more effort in bringing diversity to India’s sports. “Having been an integral part of India’s sporting arena, I have seen a lot of changes, but there’s always more we can do. Agencies and authorities can foster diversity by promoting women's sports, but that requires investing in ground-level facilities for aspiring women athletes, and providing equal opportunities and immense recognition.”

Batra finds inspiration in the life stories of many athletes. She reflects, “Mary Kom has defied age norms, not once but multiple times, and to be a champion at boxing despite whatever life threw in her way is a great inspiration for me. And then there's Serena Williams. These players have broken barriers that were once not reachable for women.”

"My mom has always kept me safe"

Batra proudly admits that it’s the women in her life who have always given her a sense of safety. “My mom has always kept me safe; she made it a point to never let fingers be pointed at me for being a girl who chose sports over other traditional and society-approved professions. My sister, and my grandmother, too helped me become a stronger woman and an even better sportsperson. Family support plays an important. While I have that in abundance, many women do, especially aspiring athletes. A sense of backing by your family, regardless of the situation, can go a long way in giving you the guts to rise again if you fall back down.”

The Olympics - "It's the present moment I want to focus on" 

Batra, who spoke to us before she set foot in Paris, was clear with her philosophy then what she wanted out of her Olympics stint. Seeing her perform in Paris, I now sense her drive to apply that philosophy on the court. Back then, when she was prepping for another tournament, she gave a simple mantra to her routine. “The preparation is going really well. And I'm happy that I'm improving day by day with my performances and my training routines. Of course, my dream is to win a medal in the Olympics 2024. But, with me, it's always about the target at hand. With the Olympics too, my focus will be on one game at a time. Focussing on what’s right in front of you is key to moving forward for me,” she signed off.