The growth of Indian table tennis has been steady thanks to the likes of Manika Batra, Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran. They have been breaking into the top of the rankings pile regularly for some time now.
Sathiyan and Achanta Sharath Kamal recently became the top-ranked Indian men's singles players. Manika Batra and Archana Girish Kamath have now entered the top-10 in the women's doubles category.
Manika Batra, along with Sathiyan, have forged a winning partnership in the mixed doubles event. They have also made considerable inroads in the mixed doubles category also.
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They performed admirably at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston last week. Their positive results have seen Archana Kamath and Manika Batra move up four places to the 10th spot - their best ranking till date.
The pair, Manika Batra and Archana Kamath, reached the quarterfinals at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships.
Joy for Manika Batra in mixed doubles ranking, too
Meanwhile, the mixed doubles pair of Sathiyan and Manika Batra achieved their career-best ranking of 15, climbing 11 spots. The pair of Manika Batra and Sathiyan also reached the quarterfinals at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals.
The quarter-final appearance meant the pair of Manika Batra and Sathiyan earned 350 ranking points.
In the men's singles category, Achanta Sharath Kamal remains the highest-ranked Indian paddler (32), followed by Sathiyan at 38. In the women's singles category, Manika Batra remains the highest-ranked Indian player at World No. 56.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) took to Twitter to congratulate the table tennis players.
"TeamIndia at an all-time high @manikabatra_TT/Archana Kamath break into the Top 10 of Women's Doubles category (+4). Manika along with Mixed Doubles partner @sathiyantt also climbed 11 spots to attain World No.15 rank as per latest rankings Congratulations to all."
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