Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah climb to career high world No 2
Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah have accumulated 3390 rating points.
Manush Shah (left) and Manav Thakkar at 2026 WTT Contender Lagos (Photo credit: WTT)
A week after they became the highest ranked Indian table tennis players ever at world No 3, the men's doubles pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah climbed to a career high world No 2 in the latest ITTF world rankings on Monday.
Thakkar and Shah now have 3390 rating points in the world rankings and trail only China's Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng (5160).
Thakkar and Shah's ascend came after the French pairing of Alexis Lebrun and Felix Lebrun fell down by three spots to world No 5 with 2658 points after the latest rankings update.
The Indians are now in an uncharted territory for paddlers from the country with the women's doubles pair of Archana Kamath and Manika Batra at world No 4 back in 2022 being the highest ranked Indians ever until last week.
Thakkar and Shah's haul of 3390 points majorly comes from their semi-final finish at the 2026 Singapore Smash (900) earlier this year.
They had also reached the 2026 US Smash quarters recently, bagging another 580 points while their quarter-final appearance at the 2025 China Smash and 2025 Euro Smash gives them 350 points apiece.
Their runner-up finish at the 2025 WTT Star Contender Foz do Iguacu (420) and title win at 2026 WTT Contender Lagos (400) also gives them a good standing.
Thakkar and Shah, who are a regular feature in the WTT circuit, will enter the upcoming 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya as one of India's better medal hopefuls in table tennis.
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