Lausanne: Indian paddler Manav Thakkar on Friday became the only fourth player from the country to attain number one spot in Under - 21 men's singles category.
Title-win at the ITTF Challenge Plus Canada Open in Markham catapulted Manav Thakkar to the World No. 1 position in the U-21 category. Surat-born Thakkar was No. 3 in November but had dropped to 10th in December's rankings. However, he saw a massive rise in points to climb to the top, beginning the New Year on 6,780 points.
By doing this, he became just the fourth Indian to do so. He had also attained the number one ranking in the U-18 category last year.
Among other Indians, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has managed to hold on to his 30th position in the senior category.
Top woman paddler of the country, Manika Batra, has remained at No. 61 in the world which was her position at the end of the last year.
