Manika Batra Creates History, Becomes 1st Indian Woman To Win Medal At Asian Cup

Batra outplayed Hina Hayata 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 4-11, 11-2 to clinch the bronze medal in the competition.

Manika Batra in action.

New Delhi: India's star paddler Manika Batra made history as she became the first-ever Indian female paddler to grab a medal at Asian Cup Table Tennis Tennis tournament. Batra outplayed Hina Hayata 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 4-11, 11-2 to clinch the bronze medal in the competition.

Manika Batra creates history by becoming the first ever Indian female paddler to win a medal at Asian Cup Table Tennis Tennis tournament. She won a Bronze medal in style by beating World No. 6 & 3 time Asian Champion Hina Hayata 4-2 in Bronze medal bout. pic.twitter.com/WCsJ44XRy7

— ANI (@ANI) November 19, 2022

Batra knocked out her opponent by 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 4-11, and 11-2. However, she had lost to Mima Ito in the semifinal match by 2-4 (8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 6-11, 11-8, 7-11).  Despite losing the match, she appeared in the bronze medal bout and ended up winning it.

Manika performed brilliantly to seal the victory against World No. 7 Chen Xingtong of China in the first round of the ongoing Asian Cup 2022 tournament in Bangkok on Thursday. Playing at the Huamark Indoor Stadium, the World No. 44 thrashed the fourth-seeded table tennis player 4-3 by 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9.

Post this, she made it to the quarterfinals where she outplayed Chen Szu-Yu of Taiwan by 4-3 (6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9) to qualify for the semifinal. After her historic win, Manika took to Twitter and wrote, “I am really happy beating world no. 7 in the TT Asia Cup, will just continue playing my best and keep this focus for next rounds. This is my 3rd win against Chinese player recently. Thank you everyone for supporting and cheering for me."

I am really happy beating world no. 7 in the TT Asia Cup , will just continue playing my best and keep this focus for next rounds.

This is my 3rd win against Chinese player recently.
Thank you everyone for supporting and cheering for me. pic.twitter.com/lcP5IZ8Kzt

— Manika Batra (@manikabatra_TT) November 17, 2022

The ongoing edition of the Asian Cup is going on at the Huamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok.