In an earlier article, I called AJ Carney and student Bryce Milford the Batman and Robin of table tennis. But AJ has another student, and she’s doubled-up on both – she’s Batgirl AND Batwoman!

Sara Gulabani, 17, easily won Hardbat Women here at the Classic Nationals at the host Austin Table Tennis Club here in Texas. In the Final RR, she went 4-0 in matches and 12-0 in games, with nobody scoring more than 7 points against her. That makes her Batwoman. But she also finished third in Hardbat Juniors (Under 18). But since she was the only girl in the event, that made her the highest finishing junior girl – making her Batgirl!

She started playing table tennis when she was eight, with sponge. She started playing hardbat on the side last year, working with AJ (yes, Batman). While she’s still primarily a sponge player, she said she’s been practicing hardbat every day for two weeks, including a lot of serve practice. She also practices hardbat before the Nationals and US Open. The practice pays off. She’s won Hardbat Junior Girls three straight times – at the 2022 and 2023 US Nationals and at the 2022 US Open.

AJ, from the Triangle Badminton and Table Tennis Center, is her hardbat coach, and sometimes her sponge coach as well. (With sponge, her primary coaches are Jishan Liang and Hong Lin from NC International Table Tennis.) For hardbat, besides AJ, she practices with Bryce, Mike Babuin, and Steph Sun.

Outside table tennis, she likes running and cycling – for fun. She also likes cooking, often getting recipes from Hello Fresh that she makes for their family dinners. She also likes baking cakes – to the delight of her younger brother, Aadi, who also plays table tennis and was listening in as I interviewed Sara. She’s about to start her senior year, where her best subject is math.

She’s staying in Austin for a day of sightseeing – and what is the Classic Nationals Women’s Hardbat Champion/Batwoman/Batgirl most looking forward to visiting? Visiting Austin’s Ice Cream Museum!