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Indian table tennis stars Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah created history on Monday by climbing to World No. 2 in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) men's doubles rankings, becoming the highest-ranked Indian players or pair ever in the senior world rankings.
The Indian duo improved one place from last week's career-best World No. 3, surpassing the previous national record held by Archana Kamath and Manika Batra, who had reached World No. 4 in the women's doubles rankings in 2022, according to Olympics.com. China's Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng continue to occupy the top spot with 5,160 ranking points, while Thakkar and Shah are second with 3,390 points. France's celebrated Lebrun brothers, Alexis and Felix, who were ranked second last week, slipped to fifth, paving the way for the Indian pair's rise. The landmark achievement is the latest reward for a remarkable run of consistency by Thakkar and Shah over the past year. Guided by Indian table tennis legend Sharath Kamal, the duo have established themselves among the world's elite through a series of impressive performances on the WTT circuit. Their campaign includes a semi-final finish at the 2026 Singapore Smash, a runners-up finish at the 2025 WTT Star Contender Foz do Iguacu and the title at the 2026 WTT Contender Lagos, results that significantly boosted their world ranking. The rise comes at an ideal time for Indian table tennis, with the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, less than three months away. Thakkar and Shah are expected to spearhead India's men's doubles challenge after narrowly missing out on a medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, where they lost in the quarter-finals to South Korea's then World No. 1 pair of Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon. India heads into the 2026 Asian Games with strong representation across the doubles events. Diya Chitale and Manush Shah are currently ranked World No. 5 in mixed doubles, while Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghorpade occupy the World No. 10 spot in women's doubles. In the singles rankings, Thakkar remains India's highest-ranked men's player at World No. 38, followed closely by Shah at World No. 40. Manika Batra continues to be India's top-ranked women's singles player at World No. 51, although the former Commonwealth Games champion has been named among the reserves for the upcoming Asian Games. The latest rankings underline India's growing stature in international table tennis and provide a timely boost as the country prepares for another major multi-sport event later this year. (ANI)
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