Batra becomes first female Indian to break into top 50

Mumbai:Indian table tennis star Manika Batra has become the first player from the country to break into the top 50 of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world rankings.

The 23-year-old from the national capital has climbed up four places to reach the 47th spot in the latest rankings released on Wednesday.

Ecstatic with her achievement, Batra took to her official Twitter handle and wrote, “Delighted to be the first Indian woman to break into the top 50 of the @ittfworld rankings. Will continue to work harder than ever… Thank you everyone for your support.”

Batra’s compatriot and leading paddler G Sathiyan also moved up three spots to reach his career-best 28 position in the world rankings.

Sathiya too took to his social media to express his pleasure.

Really happy to share that I became the first ever Indian Table tennis athlete to break into the World top 20’s with my career high WORLD RANKING of 28 in the latest @ittfworld WR list !! @ttfitweet @Ra_THORe @Media_SAI @GoSportsVoices @RamanS22905417, “he tweeted.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)