Three men paddlers, including Harmeet Desai feature in top 100
Mumbai, May 3:
Indian table tennis is on a high as several players across different categories have made significant improvement in the world rankings. There are three Indian players, including young Harmeet Desai, feature among the top 100 in the men’s rankings, for May 2017.
Although A. Sharath Kamal, dropped one place he is still the top-ranked Indian at No. 54. Soumyajit Ghosh, who recently won the Chile Open title, has made a marginal climb, moving from No. 84 to 83. However, the biggest gainer was Harmeet Desai who broke the three-digit mark moving for 100 to No. 95, which is a big leap. Incidentally, this is the first time ever that three Indians figure in the top 100 world ranking.
Harmeet was rewarded for his impressive performances at the Wuxi Asian Championships, both in team events and in singles.
However, no Indian player figures in the top 100 of the women’s ranking list. Manika Batra, who was ranked world No. 93, has been pushed to No. 103. The other women paddlers have done nothing worthwhile to move up the ladder.
Mumbai girl Diya Chitale also made big strides up the ranking in the girls’ under-15 category. Diya who was ranked No. 26 moved up three places to No. 23. Anusha Kutamble and Vanshika Bhargava have also entered the world ranking list and are placed at 42 and 73.
In Youth Boys, Arjun Ghosh has moved several places to break the 100-mark barrier as he is ranked No. 98 in the world. Manav Thakkar, Abhishek Yadav, Ronit Bhanja, Anirban Ghosh, Siddesh Pande, Jeet Chandra, Birdie Boro and Manush Shah have gained in world rankings but none matching the performance of Arjun Ghosh.
In Youth Girls, Ayhika Mukherjee has improved upon her world rankings by going up two places from No. 37 to No. 35, along with Moumita Datta (No. 147), Seleena Depthi (No. 177) and Diya Chitale (No. 209). Surprisingly, Archana Kamath has lost a few places from No. 56 to be No. 59.
In Junior Boys, Manav Thakkar has made big amends to figure at No. 29 while Manush Shah at 115, identical gain of 10 places for both players.
In Junior Girls, Archana is now among the top 20 in the world, a good two-spot jump, following India’s performance at the Belgium Open in Spa last month. Along with her, Moumita Datta who helped the team win gold, has gained 18 places and is currently at No. 79. Others who have gained from the Spa championships were Selena Deepthi (No. 93) and Diya Chitale (No. 116). The girl from Maharashtra was languishing at No. 147 until the May list was published.
Meanwhile, Chinese players dominate the men’s and women’s rankings lists. Long Ma is the top-ranked men player and is followed by three of his teammates, while Ning Ding heads the women’s rankings, with two other Chinese players ranked second and third.
Category Ranking Previous Name Country Ranking Pts.
General List - Men 54 53 ACHANTA Sharath Kamal IND 2314
General List - Men 83 84 GHOSH Soumyajit IND 2172
General List - Men 95 100 DESAI Harmeet IND 2109
General List - Men 125 104 GNANASEKARAN Sathiyan IND 2041
General List - Women 103 93 BATRA Manika IND 2273
General List - Women 129 122 DAS Mouma IND 2154
U21 List - Boys 98 135 GHOSH Arjun IND 1356
U21 List - Boys 103 110 THAKKAR Manav Vikash IND 1324
U21 List - Boys 109 112 YADAV Abhishek IND 1294
U21 List - Girls 35 37 MUKHERJEE Ayhika IND 2066
U21 List - Girls 59 56 KAMATH Archana Girish IND 1945
U21 List - Girls 112 110 PUSHPAK Amrutha IND 1707
U18 List - Boys 29 39 THAKKAR Manav Vikash IND 1324
U18 List - Boys 90 78 CHANDRA Jeet IND 1012
U18 List - Boys 115 125 SHAH Manush Utpalbhai IND 910
U18 List - Girls 20 22 KAMATH Archana Girish IND 1945
U18 List - Girls 71 89 DUTTA Moumita IND 1520
U18 List - Girls 76 73 PAREEK Priyanka IND 1507
U18 List - Girls 93 100 SELVAKUMAR Selena IND 1394
U18 List - Girls 116 147 CHITALE Diya Parag IND 1297
U15 List - Boys 46 JEHO Himnakulhpuingheta IND 571
U15 List - Boys 51 JAIN Payas IND 535
U15 List - Girls 23 26 CHITALE Diya Parag IND 1297
U15 List - Girls 42 KUTUMBALE Anusha IND 1131
U15 List - Girls 73 BHARGAVA Vanshika IND 922