The 28-year-old Delhi native is now the highest-ranked Indian in singles play, matching the world No. 24 ranking that G Sathiyan attained in 2019.
On Tuesday, the International Table Tennis Federation updated the rankings, propelling Indian table tennis sensation Manika Batra to a career-high ranking of No 24 in the world for women’s singles.
The world No. 24 position Sathiyan Gnanasekaran attained in 2019 is now tied for the highest ranking held by an Indian in singles—this is the first time an Indian woman has cracked the top 25 rankings.Following an impressive run to the Saudi Smash event quarterfinals last week, Batra moved up fifteen spots in the rankings. Batra took the global No. 2 ranking from Wang Manyu of China—who fell one spot on Tuesday—in the Jeddah tournament and proceeded to the quarterfinals by defeating the world No. 14 ranked player, Nina Mittelham of Germany.
Sreeja Akula, who fell three spots to 41, lost the top rank in India to the 28-year-old from New Delhi thanks to that run.
Even though he fell three spots to forty in the men’s singles rankings, veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal still leads the Indians.
Manav Thakkar holds the second-highest ranking of 62 in the men’s singles category, with Harmeet Desai coming in at number 63. Sathiyan has decreased to 68.
Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee, who took home a bronze medal at the Asian Games last year, jumped up to 13th in the women’s doubles rankings, while Thakkar and Manush Shah fell three spots to take their position at 15th in the men’s doubles rankings.
Prior to dropping to number 24, Batra and Sathiyan were among the top 5 players in mixed doubles.
