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What’s the story?
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran became the second ever paddler from India to break into the top 50 in the latest ITTF world rankings released on January 1, 2018. He currently sits pretty at the 49th spot after a stellar year in the professional circuit.
Gnanasekaran thus emulates Indian table tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal's feat. The latter has been ranked as high as 32nd.
In case you didn’t know
The new ITTF ranking system which is in place now, is based on the best eight results gained in the immediate preceding 12-month period, as opposed to the previous system when wins and losses against adversaries were the basis calculator.
The new system takes into consideration the number of competitions that each player competes in and the points that he attains from every stage in the tournaments.
The heart of the matter
The man from Tamil Nadu had earlier won the 2017 ITTF Challenge Spanish Open in Almeria and his impressive performances reflected in the rankings as he entered the top 50 at the very start of the year. His compatriot Sharath Kamal is now No. 51 in the world, two places behind Gnanasekaran.
Gnanasekaran expressed his delight after the latest rankings were published by taking to Twitter and informing his fans about his upward sojourn.
What’s next?
The new year has brought good news for the Indian and he will now be hoping to make the most of the opportunities he gets in the ITTF tournaments. Gnanasekaran has shown that he has the calibre to upset big players, but titles are what he will be gunning for.
Author’s take
The youngster who was ranked as high as 102nd in the world in June, 2017, took long strides to break into the top-50 bracket, but the real test lies ahead. His prime task would be to beat world champions now to consolidate his ranking and move ahead in the pecking order.
