NEW DELHI: Teenage Indian paddler Manav Thakkar has jumped nine places to become the world no.1 in the Under-21 men’s singles category in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings.
On the landmark achievement, Doordarshan Sports posted on its official Twitter handle: “Table Tennis: Manav Thakkar has etched his name in the history books by becoming the first Indian table tennis player to be ranked world No.1 in the Under-21 category.”
PTYI reports that Thakkar is the first Indian to be ranked No.1 in the world in the U-21 category. He had reached the No.1 rank in the U-18 category two years ago, then becoming the first Indian to be ranked No.1 in the world in any age group in table tennis.
19-year-old Thakkar won the U-21 men’s singles title at the ITTF Challenge Plus Benemax-Virgo North American Open in Markham, Canada in December last year. He beat Argentina’s Martin Bentancor 11-3 11-5 11-6 to win the crown.
Thakkar is the fourth Indian to win a U-21 title of such stature after Harmeet Desai, G Sathiyan and Soumyajit Ghosh.
Among other Indians, Sathiyan has managed to retain his 30th spot in the senior category, while Achanta Sharath Kamal has climbed a spot to 33rd position in the world table tennis rankings issued on Thursday.
Top woman paddler of the country, Manika Batra was static at the 61st position.
