Achanta Sharath Kamal upstaged teammate G Sathiyan to become the highest ranking Indian table tennis player at world no 33, recapturing his top position among the Indians. Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra continued her surge and has gained 24 places to be at world no 57.
This was Kamal’s second best world rankings after reaching no 32 in May 2015. That was after the Suzhou World Championships where he suffered a hip injury. But ever since he won his eighth national singles title at Ranchi, the 36-year-old has been on the rise once again.
Sathiyan, who is at no 39, has shown a jump of just one spot but reached a career-high ranking and became the youngest Indian to break into the 30s. Meanwhile, veteran Sharath has gained 10 positions. Harmeet Desai, who was at 79th before the Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast, is also in the top 100 at no 99.
The ITTF’s world ranking list released on Friday takes into calculation the two important events that India played recently in South Korea and Australia. With three Indian men players in top 100, Ayhika Mukherjee lost one spot to be at no 118.
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