Ace paddler Manika Batra wins second Nationals title

Panchkula, Feb 19: Ace paddler Manika Batra bagged her second national crown after she defeated Reeth Rishya 4-2 in the women's singles final of the UTT 82nd Senior National Table Tennis Championships at the Tau Devi Lal Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

  

Batra had beaten Reeth Rishya 8-11, 10-12, 11-1, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6. Manika had won her maiden title way back in 2015 at the Hyderabad Nationals and finished a runner-up at Ranchi in 2017 when she lost the final to Sutirtha Mukherjee.

 

The top-ranked Indian in the world won the match and title when Reeth first lost her rhythm in the third game and again when she regained it in the fourth, leading 9-3. Manika took eight points on the trot to level the score. After that, the body language changed for both.

 

 

She will compete at two WTT Contender events starting on February 28, followed by the World and Asian Olympic qualifiers in Doha on March 14 and 18 respectively. And the World No 63 wants to be ready for them.