Table Tennis: Manika Batra reaches career-high 38 in world rankings

New Delhi, May 3

Indian paddlers, including star player Manika Batra, today made massive gains in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world rankings after the federation approved changes to the points system.

Batra attained a career-high singles ranking of 38 with a jump of 10 spots, while G Sathiyan was the best-placed Indian male at 34 in the latest rankings. Veteran Sharath Kamal, who last week won his 10th national title, also gained a place to be the world No. 37. Sreeja Akula, who won her maiden national title in Shillong, gained as many as 39 places to be ranked 68th. At No. 66 is Archana Kamath, who made the leap from the 92nd position. Reeth Tennison gained an astounding 197 spots to be ranked 97th.

While Kamal and Sathiyan are the only two Indian male players in the top-100, there are four Indians in the women’s top-100. The climb in rankings comes after the ITTF decided to remove “initial points”, introduced in 2020, to determine the rankings.