Indian Table Tennis Rises: July 2025 Rankings as Sreeja & Akash Pal Shine with big jumps in the ITTF Table Tennis Rankings
Indian table tennis continues its steady climb on the global stage a climb built on individual brilliance, emerging depth in doubles, and the growing maturity of young stars.
The latest ITTF World Rankings ( 29 July 2025) paint a hopeful yet nuanced picture: breakthroughs, comebacks, and signals of what Indian TT must do next to transform promise into sustained elite performance.
Let’s break down the key movements and what they reveal.
Sreeja Akula: Back in Top 40 — The Leading Light
Arguably India’s most consistent international women’s singles player, Sreeja Akula is back in the world’s Top 40, now ranked No. 37. This comes after a strong run at the WTT Contender Lagos, where she reached the final, defeating top-seeded Hina Hayata WR11 in a stunning upset before narrowly losing to Japan’s Honoka Hashimoto.
The performance shows Sreeja’s tactical growth: improved footwork, sharper serve returns, and a willingness to rally deep against higher-ranked opponents.
While Sreeja had once peaked near World No. 21, her bounce back into the Top 40 underlines two key points:
- Resilience: After earlier exits in Star Contender events this year, Sreeja regrouped.
- Strategic scheduling: Prioritising events where she could go deep and collect ranking points.
To break into the world’s Top 30, she’ll now target consistent finishes at WTT Star Contenders and aim to qualify for the year-end finals.
Manav Thakkar: Into Top 45 — The Quiet Climber
Manav Thakkar’s rise to World No. 45 is built on steady, workmanlike results rather than dramatic upsets.
A semifinal run at WTT Star Contender Chennai earlier this season gave him a major points boost. Since then, he has held form across Contender and Feeder events, showing:
- A matured backhand block-to-attack transition.
- Improved mental composure in deciding games.
Manav’s challenge ahead? Going beyond the quarters at Star Contenders and taking down top-20 opponents. But his consistency suggests he’s on track to become India’s first male paddler in the Top 30 since Achanta Sharath Kamal.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran: Back in Top 100 — Singles Steady, Doubles Strong
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran returns to the Top 100, now at No. 97.
This comes after months of fluctuating form early losses in singles, but a strong focus on doubles, which is now paying dividends.
Partnering with Akash Pal, Sathiyan won the Men’s Doubles title at WTT Contender Lagos, beating the French pair Nodrest/Rolland in a dominant final.
His experience and table awareness are crucial: reading serves early, blocking wide angles, and setting up Akash for forehand kills.
Sathiyan’s story underlines a larger shift: as singles draws get denser, experienced players increasingly focus on doubles and mixed doubles for ranking stability and medals.
Akash Pal: Into Top 200 Singles & Top 30 Mixed — The Breakthrough Star
Akash Pal had the most dramatic jump:
- Singles: Now World No. 162, rising 132 places.
- Mixed doubles (with Poymantee Baisya): Into the Top 30 at No. 28, jumping 24 places.
Akash’s fearless style heavy forehands, daring flicks, and counter-topspins has impressed both fans and senior teammates.
At Lagos, Akash reached singles quarters and, alongside Sathiyan, won the men’s doubles title. But his biggest leap has come in mixed doubles, where his partnership with Poymantee shows the new generation’s promise.
Mixed Doubles: India’s Fastest Growing Strength
Mixed doubles is now where India sees its sharpest rise in rankings a strategically smart move with the Olympic mixed doubles event in mind.
- Akash Pal / Poymantee Baisya: World No. 28 a partnership barely a year old, already challenging top Asian pairs.
- Harmeet Desai / Yashaswini Ghorpade: Now World No. 34, climbing 58 places after finishing runners-up at WTT Contender Buenos Aires.
- Diya/Manush continue to remain in top10
These jumps highlight two things: Indian TT is finally investing coaching and planning into mixed doubles. Younger players are building partnerships early, unlike previous generations where mixed was an afterthought.
What Rankings Really Mean: Understanding the Points Race
World ranking points come from the best 8 results in the last 12 months, weighted by event category:
- WTT Grand Smash / World Champs winner: up to 2000 pts.
- Star Contender winner: 600 pts.
- Contender winner: 400 pts.
- Feeder winner: 150 pts.
For Indian players, most points came from WTT Contenders, with only Sreeja and Manav breaking into Star Contender knockouts.
The challenge now? Older points expire weekly. To stay or rise, players must match or better last year’s results a high bar as draws get deeper.
Deeper Insights: Why These Moves Matter
- Sreeja’s Top 40 return improves seeding at major events, reducing early-round meetings with world top-10.
- Manav at 45: A few more quarterfinals could push him toward Top 30, historically rare for Indian men.
- Sathiyan’s return to Top 100 keeps him eligible for bigger draws and helps in Commonwealth & Asian Games selections.
- Akash’s Top 200 singles entry: Symbolically important more Indian men in the top 200 means better Davis Cup depth.
- Mixed doubles rise: India now has two pairs in the Top 35 vital for Olympic qualification points.
A few clear trends:
Players entering more international events, even lower-tier feeders, to collect ranking points.
Specialisation: Akash, Poymantee, and Yashaswini investing serious hours into doubles.
Federation focus: Targeted foreign exposure and support for mixed doubles ahead of Paris 2028.
July 2025 isn’t just about rankings. It reflects:
- The rise of young names.
- Doubles as a genuine medal focus.
- A growing belief that Indian table tennis can stand toe-to-toe with Asia and Europe.
With Sreeja, Manav, Sathiyan, Akash and the mixed pairs leading the way, Indian table tennis is not only climbing the rankings it’s quietly building a system ready to last.
The journey to Los Angeles 2028 and beyond has begun. And this time, it feels like the rise is no accident it’s a plan in motion.
