After courting various controversies in the aftermath of the Tokyo Olympics and being in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, Manika Batra’s career was on a downhill in August 2022.
Having emerged as India’s athlete of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the lanky paddler returned medal-less from Birmingham last year. She failed to make it to the table tennis singles final of the National Games that followed in September.
Indian sports fans and connoisseurs, including the table tennis fraternity, started whispering whether she had hit rock bottom.
While shifting her base from Pune to Mumbai towards the end of 2021, Manika had been working with German coach Chris Pfeiffer, who is in contention to be India’s head coach. But the combination just wasn’t clicking.
“I was with Chris but somehow it wasn’t clicking. We worked together for a few months but we just didn’t gel well and it reflected in my game, so I had to change. We both realised it and that’s how I got in touch with Aman,” Manika says at the WTT Star Contender Goa 2023, where she stunned World No. 14 Adriana Diaz in the round of 32 before succumbing to World No. 20 Qian Tianyin in the pre-quarterfinal.
That was the time when she dialled old friend Aman Balgu, a former age-group international from Mumbai who now runs a successful academy in Hyderabad, seeking help. At first, Aman, who now oversees training programmes of his childhood friend Sanil Shetty and his wife Reeth Rishya, was a little bit cagey.
“I told her that I was used to honing the skills of youngsters and working with Sanil and Reeth but I had never worked with such a top paddler,” Aman reveals.
“We decided to try out a short stint just before the Asian Cup and once it worked, we have been working together ever since.”
The Asian Cup in November saw Manika turn the tide in a trademark Manika-like unexpected manner. She emerged India’s first-ever medal winner at the Asian Cup, thanks to her charge into the semifinal.
Since then, she has continued to take baby steps in improving her world rankings. Having touched her career high of No. 33 in January, she is placed at No. 34 right now.
For the last four months, Manika has been shuttling between Mumbai, her base since the end of the 2021, and Hyderabad. In Mumbai, she trains with her Belarussian sparring partner Kiril Barabanov, while in Hyderabad she follows a training programme devised by Aman.
“Just before the Asian Cup, I started taking guidance from Aman. Of course, there are a few technical nuances that we have been working on, but there’s no huge change as such,” Manika says. “But the confidence level is different now. He likes to motivate, so that’s made me believe I can beat any player now.”
Aman stresses that creating a happy environment has been the key for Manika’s success and credits Manika for her ability to think on her feet, even during the games. “There are times when we have been devising strategies in the lead-up to a match but she is such a spontaneous player that her ability to change the plan during a match actually makes her stand out.”
Despite losing to Tianyin, whom she defeated at the Star Contender event in Doha last year, Manika is happy with the week gone by, and the first couple of months. But she is not content with breaking into the top-30s in the World.
“I have set my eyes on breaking into the top-20 this year and I will continue to work hard towards achieving the goal,” she says.
If she can walk the talk, to be sure, Aman Balgu - her third personal coach in four years - will continue to be associated with her for a long time.
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