Manika Batra accuses national table tennis coach of fixing Olympic qualifiers

Table tennis star Manika Batra has alleged that national table tennis coach Soumyadeep Roy asked her to fix a match during the Olympic qualifiers in March and that was the main reason she refused his help in the singles competition of the Tokyo Games.

Responding to Table Tennis Federation of India’s show cause notice, Manika stated she would not have been able to focus on her match if someone who asked to her indulge in match-fixing months earlier was sitting by her side. She added that Roy had pressurised her during the qualification tournament in Doha in March 2021 to concede her match to his student to enable her to qualify for Olympics.

The player-turned-coach has also not been asked to join the ongoing national camp and has been told by TTFI to present his side of the story. Roy is a former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist in the team event and also an Arjuna awardee.

Also read: Tokyo Paralympics: Harvinder Singh clinches India's 1st-ever medal in para archery