I need to work more on my fitness: Manika

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,” said Manika on return from the Gold Coast, 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. When asked about her mindset before taking on higher-ranked opponents, Manika said she doesn’t focus too much on her rivals’ rankings. 

“I do not think much about the opponent’s ranking when I face them. But having said that I am really happy and satisfied to have beaten her (Feng) twice,” she said. “I had to change my game in both the matches and made little adjustments which helped me beat her. I knew I could win and stayed focused and stuck to my strategy,” the world No.48 added. 

Manika also hoped that with her recent feat, she can replicate the success of the likes of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu in popularising table tennis in the country. She said that because of many good players in the country, TT can become as popular as badminton in the country, she said. “It is a wonderful feeling to have won so many medals in such a huge event and to have made the country proud. I was confident about my chances but never thought that I would win so many medals so, yeah, I am very happy about my achievements, she said adding that it was “surreal feeling and I hope to continue my good work.” 

Asked about her future goals, she said: “I am going for the World Team Championships in Sweden in April. My goal obviously will be to do well and keep winning medals for the country.”