Table Tennis: Indian men’s team enters top 10 in ITTF world rankings

The Indian men's table tennis team has broken into the top 10 in world rankings, placing ninth, its highest ever position on the table.

The International Table Tennis Federation updated its rankings on Monday with China topping the men's team rankings with 290 points. Japan ranks second with 288 points followed by Germany at 286 points.

 

India which was previously ranked tenth, moved a spot ahead to ninth. With 272 ranking points, India is tied with Austria, which finds itself in tenth place.

Consistent performances from Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan and Co. -  starting with the gold in the Commonwealth Games n 2018 and a bronze at the Asian Games to gold in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship in Cuttack in July and its second best showing at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in September - has helped India steadily rise through the ranks from 13th last year to its current ninth position.

Ace Indian paddler Sathiyan Gnanasekaran tweeted the news in a celebratory tweet. India's ranking update comes after the boys managed a 3-2 win against Fulda TTC in an exciting tie from its camp in Germany.

Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju also conveyed his wishes to the team in a tweet on Monday.



Sathiyan explains India's priorities ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 in this in-depth interview. Watch it here