Manika Batra became the first Indian table tennis player to win a medal at the ITTF ATTU Asian Cup when she defeated world number six Hina Hayata of Japan in a play-off to win the bronze medal. World No. 44 Manika defeated Hayata 11. 6, 6. 11, 11. 7, 12. 10, 4. 11, 11. beat by 2. With this win, he will also get $10,000 along with a bronze medal. After the victory, Manika said, “It is a big victory for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and did well against top players.
I will keep working hard in the future as well.” Earlier, she had lost to Japan’s fourth seed Mima Ito in the semi-finals. Unseeded Manika became the first Indian woman to reach the semi-finals of this continental tournament. She went down 8-11 11-7 7-11 6-11 11-8 7-11 (2-4) to the world number five table tennis player. In the quarter-finals, Manika had defeated higher-ranked Chen Hsu Yu of Chinese Taipei 4-3.
Manika has secured the record for the best performance by an Indian in the 39-year history of the Asian Cup. Earlier in 2015, Achanta Sharath Kamal and in 2019, G Sathiyan had finished sixth. The top Indian player had earlier upset world number seven Chen Jingtong of China. The $200,000 prize pool is being contested by the top 16 players from across the continent in men’s and women’s categories based on world rankings and qualification.
