I need to work more on my fitness, say TT sensation Manika Batra

TIL Desk Sports/ Till recently an emerging table-tennis star, Manika Batra has turned into an overnight sensation after her impressive run in the just-concluded Commonwealth Games, where she bagged medals in all four events on offer, including an unprecedented gold in the women’s singles and team championship.

Despite earning accolades for her recent feats in Gold Coast, Manika still feels she has room for improvement, especially on her fitness.

“Well I would need to work more on my fitness as the sport is very fast and it is required to beat the top players. I need to be little more fitter and need to be faster than what I am right now,” Manika told in an interview on return from the Gold Coast, said, echoing her coach Sandeep Gupta, who had stressed on the importance of adding the ‘X-factor’ to her game.

The 22-year-old upset triple Olympic medallist and World No.4 Feng Tianwei of Singapore to lead the Indian women’s team to a historic gold before beating Singapore’s second highest ranked Mengyu Yu in the women’s singles semi-finals, on her way to another gold.