In the most recent ITTF rankings released on Tuesday, Indian star Manika Batra achieved a career milestone by reaching world number 24. This significant climb of 15 positions from her former rank of 39 makes her the first Indian woman to ever break into the top 25 for singles. In doing so, she has regained her status as the leading player in India, moving ahead of Sreeja Akula. This historic achievement is largely credited to her exceptional run at the Saudi Smash, where she made history as the first Indian singles player to advance to the quarterfinals of a World Table Tennis Grand Smash event.
Manika Batra, an Indian table tennis star, reached a career-high of world number 24 in the current International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings released on Tuesday. This extraordinary surge saw her rise 15 spots from her prior position of No. 39. Manika not only retained her position as India’s top-ranked player, surpassing Sreeja Akula, but she also made history as the first Indian woman to reach the top 25 singles rankings at the age of 25. This is the first time an Indian paddler has reached the top 25 in the singles rankings. Manika’s worldwide table tennis status skyrocketed after a spectacular Saudi Smash tournament, where she became the first Indian singles player to reach the quarterfinals of a World Table Tennis Grand Smash event.
Her journey through the tournament was marked by high-profile victories, including a win over world number two Wang Manyu of China and world number 14 Nina Mittelham of Germany, before being stopped in the quarterfinals by Japan's world number five, Hina Hayata. This success allowed Manika to reclaim her position as India's top female player, a spot she had lost to Sreeja Akula only a month earlier. Meanwhile, Sreeja Akula's global ranking slipped by three places, leaving her at number 41.
Looking back at historical peaks, Manika Batra and Archana Kamath reached world number four in women's doubles in 2022, which remains the highest ranking ever achieved by an Indian in any table tennis category. In the men's circuit, veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal continues to lead as India's top player, despite sliding three spots to world number 40. He is followed closely by Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai, who are ranked 62nd and 63rd, respectively, while Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has dropped five places to 68th.
Other notable movements include Asian Games bronze medalists Suthirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee, who climbed to 13th in the women's doubles. Conversely, the duo of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah dipped three spots to 15th in the men's doubles. In the mixed doubles category, former top-five pair Manika and Sathiyan have fallen to 24th. However, the most dramatic shift came for Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade, who skyrocketed 693 places to land at world number 38.
The jump for Harmeet and Yashaswini was fueled by a strong showing at the Saudi Smash. They reached the quarterfinals after taking down the world number 19 pair from Chile (Paulina Vega and Nicolas Burgos) and the world number six pair from Spain (Alvaro Robles and Maria Xiao). Their run eventually ended in the quarterfinals against the world's top-ranked pair, Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha of China.