New Delhi, Apr 16 (IANS): Ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal surpassed compatriot Gnanasekaran Sathiyan to become the highest-ranked Indian men table tennis player after he grabbed 31st position in the latest senior men's rankings released by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Thursday.
Riding on the title winning performance at the Oman Open last month, Sharath has taken a leap of seven spots to claim the 31st position.
"Some positive news, amidst all the negativity currently. Feels great actually. Just the news I needed while I find myself away from the game during this lockdown," an elated Sharath said.
Young rising paddler Mudit Dani also made notable progress in the rankings as he broke into the Top-200 for the first time in his career.
After good performance in the recent events, Dani took a jump of nine places to claim the 200th position while Harmeet Desai (72), Anthony Amalraj (100) and Manav Thakkar (139) are the other Indian paddlers who have positioned themselves in the first 200.
Meanwhile, in the senior women's rankings, Manika Batra is at the 63rd spot while Sutirtha Mukharjee at 95th, breaking into the top 100.
The ITTF rankings will now be frozen until the start of events. ITTF has already suspended all its events until June 30 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.