What is Manika Batra’s surprise weapon – the ‘Bhangra twiddle’?

Manika Batra famously fooled Chinese Wang Manyu at the Saudi SMAASH in May, when she twiddled at match point, 11-10 up, after trailing 8-10. Twiddling is rotating the TT paddle to switch grips quickly from backhand to forehand rubbers. Manika has been trained to twiddle for 15 years, but uses it rarely and always with a hard hit that’s seldom effective.

Against the World No 2 Chinese though, Manika anticipated Wang would turn to go for the backhand, and flipped the grip playing pure placement on the block, sending it to her opponent’s forehand. It was risky given the Chinese are experts at countering, and had Manika missed, Wang would’ve been back in the match at 11-11, and dragged her into a decider.

The ‘twiddle’ comes from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland books, named after the near-indistinguishable twins Tweedledee-Tweedledum, and describes the imperceptible grip-switch, played by loosening the wrist on the grip for a quick change.

Think Daler Mehndi’s Bolo Tara ra ra hook-step wrist-work, with a TT paddle, and you have the Bhangra Twiddle.

P.S. The loss to Batra might have cost Wang Manyu the individual spot in the Chinese contingent, though she’ll play team events.

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