When Manika Batra became the first Indian paddler to reach the pre-quarter-finals at an Olympics on Monday, she brought to the fore the primary change that has taken place among the country’s table tennis players — a change in mindset.

From being content with just participating in an Olympics, the paddlers are now eager and confident to try for a podium finish.

On Monday in Paris, Manika defeated world No.18 and local favourite Prithika Pavade 11-9, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7. Prithika, whose parents moved to France from Puducherry in 2003, was born in a Paris suburb.

“When I qualified for the Sydney Olympics (2000) at the age of 16, I felt that was the best that I could ever be. I felt that was a huge achievement. There was really no one to guide or give us the self-belief that we Indians could also try for a medal at the Olympics,” Poulomi Ghatak, Olympian, former national champion and now a coach told The Telegraph.

“But things are different now. On Monday, Manika was superb. She played a flawless game. Indian table tennis is on a high now.

“We are breaching milestone after milestone. Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee won the bronze in doubles in the last Asian Games. Ayhika also defeated the world No.1 Sun Yingsha at the World Team Championships in Busan...

“Now even China are taking note of Indian players. That means we are on the right track. And I am expecting a medal in table tennis from the Olympics very soon. Hopefully in these Games only. Not only Manika, even Sreeja Akula is playing very well,” Poulomi said.

After her win, Manika had said in Paris: “I am happy that I beat a French player in Paris. I defeated a higher-ranked player. I did not think of creating history and making the pre-quarters, there are more rounds, I will take it match by match and give my best as I always do.”

Poulomi added: “There has been a huge change in vision. We had no one to tell us that we must aim for world rankings — top 20 or top 50. Mouma (Das) and I, we were very young when we played nationals. I don’t know whether we could have made it to the top 20 or top 30 in the world, but the fact remains that there was no one to even tell us that we could.

“Also now the world has become smaller. You can see the top players playing, you have the internet for information. There is huge support from schemes like TOPS and Khelo India. The whole ambience of sport is changing in India.”