India's young table tennis player Manav Thakkar has reached the world's number one ranking in the Under-21 singles category. In the latest released rankings of International Table Tennis Federation, Manav jumped nine places to occupy the top position in the Men's Single category. Manav has become the first Indian player to achieve the number one position in this category. He also reached number one position in the under-18 category two years ago. He then became the first Indian to become the world's number one player in that age group in table tennis.
Manav defeated Argentina's Martin Benetancore 11–3, 11–5, 11–6 in the finals. He is the fourth Indian to achieve the top ranking. Earlier, Harmeet Desai, G Sathiyan and Soumyajit Ghosh have achieved this distinction. Manav has also been number one in the Under-18 in February 2018.He has also been a member of the Indian team that won a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018. G Sathian managed to retain his 30th position among the other Indians in the ranking. Achanta Sharath Kamal has moved up one place to 33rd position. Manika Batra remains in the 61st position in the women's category.
