Payas Jain became the World No. 1 in boys’ under-17 rankings released by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Tuesday.
The reigning National youth and junior champion surpassed his previous best of World No. 2 after winning three titles — in Otocec, Tunis and Muscat — this season.
Even in the u-19 section, Payas climbed to seventh spot — a jump of five places from last week.
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Among the girls, there were quite a few Indians in single-digit world rankings.
Swastika Ghosh and Yashaswini Ghorpade held the seventh and eighth spots in the u-19 rankings. Yashaswini is also placed fifth in the u-17 section.
Suhana Saini, winner of titles in Slovenia, Tunisia and Oman in the WTT youth series this season, is placed fourth in u-15, Hansini Mathan Rajan is ranked third in u-13 and Dhani Jain is second in u-11.
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World youth rankings (top-two Indians): Boys:, u-19: 7. Payas Jain, 36. Yashansh Malik; U-17: 1. Payas Jain, 30. Preyash Raj; U-15: 8. Preyash Raj, 27. Ankur Bhattacharya; U-13: 11. P.B. Abhinandh, 15. Atherva Gupta; U-11: 6. Vishruth Ramakrishnan, 19. Aarnav Chandra.
Girls, u-19: 7. Swastika Ghosh, 8. Yashaswini Ghorpade; U-17: 5. Yashaswini Ghorpade, 12. Suhana Saini; U-15: 4. Suhana Saini, 21. Hansini Mathan Rajan; U-13: 3. Hansini Mathan Rajan, 11. Dhaani Jain; U-11: 2. Dhaani Jain, 9. Ananya Muralidharan .