Paddling with the tide

“Initially I wanted to study psychology honours but my older sister advised me against it. She said that the course work is very hard and I agree because I need to take a lot of breaks because of training and competition and can only study in the last couple of weeks. This is why I have decided on Sociology honours,” she says.

College aside,2013 is already shaping up to be a big year for Batra. She won a couple of bronze in both the team and singles categories of the Commonwealth Championships and subsequently won two singles silver medals at the Polish Junior and Slovak Junior Open last month. Batra could indeed have improved on the Commonwealth bronze. In the semifinal which she lost 4-3 to eventual champion Mo Zhang of Canada,she had plenty of chances to seal the match but faltered at key moments,including throwing away a 6-0 lead in the opening game.

“The problem was that I was already thinking about playing the final instead of concentrating on the next point. Once you lose your focus,at the senior level it is almost impossible to get back in the game and I kept missing shots and losing points. It was disappointing but at the same time,I did get to learn something,” she says.

Learning experience

The Commonwealth Championships were Batra’s first,and the experience of playing alongside the seniors turned out to be a beneficial one. “I am usually quite reserved so they made an effort to try and talk to me. Neha (Aggarwal) didi gave me some good advice. She told me that the biggest difference between the juniors and the seniors is that in the juniors,it is possible to make some mistakes and still not lose control of the point. In the seniors the most crucial thing is to be consistent. It is about ensuring that everytime you play a shot,you aren’t giving away an easy point to your opponent,” she recalls.

While Aggarwal’s suggestion was for the senior category,Batra modestly admits she has been inconsistent at the junior level as well. She has racked up a number of upsets,including one over Kasumi Ishikawa,subsequent Olympic silver medalist,in 2011 but has been unable to string together victories. Her two strong performances in the Polish and Slovakian tournaments where she beat a number of higher ranked juniors en-route to the final have undoubtedly given her confidence.

Batra adds that she has been working on these suggestions. Like Aggarwal,she is primarily a defensive player but understands the need to work out the weak points of her game. “My forehand is one area I really have to improve on. I have a good backhand defense with the pimpled rubber but where I am still very inconsistent is when I attack on the forehand with the reversed pimpled rubber,” she says.

Fitness a concern

Another area Batra is focusing on is her fitness. “At the senior level,players are much stronger and faster and this is something very basic that I have to develop,” she says. With nearly a month’s break before her next tournament – the India Open — Batra has been putting in the hard work. “I’m doing a lot of multiball sessions with my coach Sanjay Gupta and also working a lot on my fitness. I have a four hour session in the morning and another four hour session in the evening,” she says.

Batra’s main target is the World Junior Championships in December. At 18,this is her final opportunity in the age category and Batra is keen on making it count. “Last year,I qualified for the main round and also reached the second round but I lost my next match. This time I want to ensure that I do much better,” she says.