Manav Thakkar becomes fourth Indian paddler to attain World No 1 rank in Under-21 men's singles category

New Delhi: Young Indian paddler Manav Thakkar has jumped nine places to become the World No 1 in the Under-21 men’s singles category in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings. [caption id=“attachment_7096491” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Manav Thakkar_opt. Image courtesy: Twitter/@UltTableTennis[/caption] The 19-year-old achieved the feat after clinching the U-21 men’s singles title at the ITTF Challenge Plus Benemax-Virgo North American Open in Markham, Canada in December last year. He beat Argentina’s Martin Bentancor 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 to win the crown. Thakkar, thus, became the fourth Indian to achieve the feat after Harmeet Desai, G Sathiyan and Soumyajit Ghosh. Thakkar was also the World No 1 in the Under-18 category in February last year. He was part of the Indian men’s team which won a bronze medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Among other Indians, Sathiyan has managed to retain his 30th spot in the senior category, while Achanta Sharath Kamal has climbed a spot to 33rd position in the world table tennis rankings issued on Thursday. Top woman paddler of the country, Manika Batra was static at the 61st position.