Manika Batra attains career best world no. 24 ranking after impressive Saudi Smash run

New Delhi, May 14 (IANS) Indian table tennis star Manika Batra achieved a new career high ranking of World No. 24 in the latest ITTF Rankings released on Tuesday.

Manika jumped 15 places from no. 39 to become world number 24. Moreover, she reclaimed her India number one place from Sreeja Akula.

In the process, the 25-year-old paddler has become the first Indian woman to break into the top 25 singles rankings. She also matched the world No. 24 ranking achieved by Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (currently world no. 65) in 2019, which is the highest rank attained by an Indian in singles.

Manika's ranking jump came on the back of her quarterfinal finish in the Saudi Smash event last week, where she registered an upset win over top Chinese player and Olympic medallist World No. 2, Wang Manyu in the round of 32. She then defeated world No 14 Nina Mittelham of Germany to make it to the quarterfinal, where Manika eventually lost to World No.5 Hina Hayata of Japan.

In the men’s singles rankings, veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal dropped down three places to 40, continuing to be the highest ranked Indian. Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai are placed 62 and 63, respectively.

In women's doubles, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee rose one spot to be placed 13 while Thakkar and Manush Shah dropped three places to 15th in the men’s doubles chart.

In the mixed doubles, Manika and Sathiyan are placed 24 after dropping one spot.