After Manika Batra first overcame World No.4 Feng Tianwei during the Team Event, she had starting turning heads on the international circuit with this performance. A lot of Table Tennis fans around the globe thought that this was a one-off and if these two came face to face again, Feng would prevail. 

In the Round of 16, Manika trounced Australia’s Tracy Feng 4-1, with the scores of 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7. At this point, she was not thinking about the medals and had decided to take every match as it comes. 

In the Quarterfinals, Manika dominated Singapore’s Yihan Zhou 4-1 again, with scores of 11-5, 11-6, 11-2, 6-11, 11-9. Slowly, Manika had her sights set on winning a medal for India. 

In the Semis, she got another opportunity to prove her rising stature in the International TT circuit, when she face World No.4 Feng Tiawei again! The match was an absolute treat for the sport lovers as it went down to the wire. However, Batra had decoded Singaporean Feng’s game and prevailed over her yet again. She won the match 4-3 with scores of 12-10, 5-11, 11-8, 5-11, 5-11, 11-9, 13-11.  

In the Final, Manika started slow against her opponent Mengyu Yu of Singapore, dropping to a four-point deficit in the first game, 3-7. But it didn’t take her long to find her feet and turn the tables around, winning eight points on the trot to finish the first game 11-7.

After that it was just a case of replicating the same form, as Manika was merciless, her famed backhand returns put Mengyu Yu in a tight spot.

The Match ended with Manika exerting absolute dominance in all the games on her way to winning the tie 11-7, 11-6, 11-2 and 11-7 clinching gold.  

Manika Batra, thus, added a glorious feather to her cap in the form of a Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. In doing so, she has also become the first woman in the history of Indian Table Tennis to win this accolade. 

Her achievements in this campaign were rightly applauded by Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, MOS (I/C) for Youth Affairs and Sports, who took to twitter and said, “Manika Batra is pure magic at the TT Table. Standing ovation for this supremely talented girl who became India's 1st woman to win a gold in a women's singles TT event. This is also her 3rd medal in #GC2018 so far. Such a scintillating performance!”. 

She has indeed become, the new “Golden Girl” of Indian Table Tennis!