Sathiyan pips Sharath Kamal as top-ranked Indian in table tennis' world rankings

New Delhi, January 2: The in-form G Sathiyan has surpassed the legendary Sharath Kamal to be India's highest- ranked player in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings, which also have an unprecedented nine Indian players in the top-100.

Sathiyan, who was nowhere near the top-100 bracket until a few months ago, is the top-ranked at World No 49, thus pushing Kamal to the second spot at World No 51. They are followed by Soumyajit Ghosh (58), Harmeet Desai (60), Sanil Shetty (68) and Anthony Amalraj (87).

This is fantastic news to start the year... @sathiyantt .. Let’s keep this momentum going . Congrats to Raman Sir for guiding you through this journey. #thebestisyettocome @TableTennisInd @GoSportsVoices https://t.co/xE6sk4adDk

— Deepthi Bopaiah (@DeepthiBopaiah) January 2, 2018

Among women, Manika Batra is the highest-ranked Indian at World No 62. Mouma Das (74) and Madhurika Patkar (81) trail the leader.

The ITTF rankings have undergone a change after the new system was approved in September 2017. The new simplified and comprehensive system provides for a more dynamic world ranking based on paddlers' performance and results during the entire year.

WORLD NO.49 😍✌️
Highest ranked Indian in the world now and also became only the second Indian paddler ever to break into the top 50!!!#Newhigh #Highestever #Top20next #Workhard #Skyisthelimit@GoSportsVoices @UltTableTennis pic.twitter.com/6OCCOT5dkO

— Sathiyan G (@sathiyantt) January 1, 2018

In addition, the system also encourages players to participate in more and more events rather than being inactive, affecting the individual's rankings.

Among the Under-18 boys, Manav Thakkar is at World No 18, followed by Manush Shah at No 47. Snehit Surravajjula is placed at World No 64.

In the girls' section, three Indians - Archana Kamath (No 34), Selenadeepthi Selvakumar (No 95) and Yashini Sivashankar (No 99) - figure in the top 100.