‘I kept telling myself that I could win’

“Amazing”.

In one word, Manika Batra aptly described the most eventful day of her budding career after she calmly stunned two Singapore medal-contenders on way to the gold medal.

Minutes after making history by becoming the first woman from the country to win the individual table tennis gold at the Games, Manika spoke to The Hindu. “The feeling is yet to sink in. Winning for the country is so special. Today, I stayed composed in every situation and that helped me perform the way I did. I kept telling myself that I could win.”

Talking about the 4-3 semifinal-victory against World No. 4, three-time Olympic medallist and two-time defending champion Feng Tianwei, Manika said, “Even before I beat her in the team championship final (earlier in the week), I told myself not to get overawed by her World ranking. I played point by point without looking too far ahead.

“Today, after I lost the fourth and fifth games, I realised she was fiercely attacking my forehand. So I got ready with my blocks and that helped in pulling off the sixth set. Luckily, Feng did not change tactics in the final set. Even when facing match points (at 9-10 and 10-11), I remained calm. I continued to mix it up while being ready to block. Perhaps, she did not expect the ball to come back as many times.”

About the final, where she calmly battled from 1-6 in the first game against World No. 50 Yu Mengyu to win 4-0, Manika said, “Unlike Feng, Yu wants to attack at the earliest. So I had to block more to keep the rally going. That frustrated her. Once she grew desperate, I knew she would make more mistakes. At times, I took my chances and attacked with my forehand. That worked out well.”

Asked about how she dealt with the former World No. 9 bridging a three-point deficit to make it 7-7 in the fourth set, Manika said, “I stayed calm and kept her guessing. That rattled her and she committed mistakes.”