Manika Batra and G Sathiyan script history; 1st Indian pair in top 15 of World TT rankings

Indian Table Tennis mixed doubles pair of Manika Batra and G Sathiyan exited the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships after facing a defeat in the quarterfinal clash. However, Batra and Sathiyan made headlines following the conclusion of the tournament as they became the latest pair to break into the top 15 of Mixed Doubles in the latest International Table Tennis Federation World Ranking list. Earlier in the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships, the pair of Gnanasekaran and Batra defeated the Puerto Rico pair of Brian O’Neill Afanador Perez and Adriana Yamila Diaz Gonzalez, 11-2, 3-11, 11-7, and 11-0 in the second round and the pair of American TT player Kanak Jha and Chinese Wang Manyu in the third round to reach the quarter-finals.

Despite their 11-5, 11-2, 7-11, 11-9 loss to Japanese pair of Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata in the quarterfinal, Batra, and Sathiyan became the first Indian pair to force their way into the top 15 rankings of the World Table Tennis mixed doubles standings with 350 points to their credit. Following their performances in the World TT Championships, the Indian mixed-double pair made a leap of 11 places to break into the top-15 in the world. The pair had previously won the title at the WTT Contenders in Budapest, earlier in the year and reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contenders in Tunis.

Manika Batra and Archana Girish Kamath entered ITTF Top-10 Women's Doubles rankings

Apart from reaching the top-15 in mixed-doubles rankings, Manika Batra alongside Archana Girish Kamath entered the top-10 rankings by moving up four places. Kamath and Batra had previously won the doubles title at the WTT Contenders in Lasko. Meanwhile, having achieved the milestone in ITTF mixed-double rankings, Sathiyan Ganasekaran took to his official Twitter handle and acknowledged the incredible feat. With 909 points to their credit, the pair of Batra and Sathiyan now follow Aleksandr Khanin and Daria Trigolos of Belarus with 920 points. Meanwhile, Korean pair of Jang Woojin and Jeon Jihee and Spanish pair of Alvaro Robles and Maria Xiao at the 16th and 17th place respectively. At the same time, the top spot in the mixed doubles rankings is occupied by the Japanese pair of Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito.

Image: Twitter@Media_SAI