Sharath jumps 54 places to be at 34 in ITTF rankings, in prime position for singles Olympics berth

Veteran Indian table tennis player Sharath Kamal on Tuesday gained as many as 54 places to jump to 34th spot in the ITTF Word Rankings, following a quarterfinal finish at the Singapore Smash last week.

Sharath had been in the top-50 for a long time before a string of early exits pushed him down in the rankings.

The 41-year-old, who will be featuring in his fifth and final Olympics in Paris later this year, had beaten world number 15 Darko Jorgic before getting the better of 17th-ranked Omar Assar of Egypt enroute to the quarterfinals in the WTT event in Singapore.

Sharath, who is career best ranking is 30, will try to be in the top 16 before the Olympics in July-August. ''Singapore turned out to be great. Will try to chase the top 16 at the Olympics,'' Sharath told PTI. Sharath gained as many as 400 points for his last eight appearance, ensuring a comfortable entry in the top-50 of the rankings. He is also now the highest ranked Indian by a distance with Harmeet Desai closest to him in 65th position. The two players are best placed to play singles in the Paris Olympics with India having already secured a historic qualification in the team event. The Table Tennis Federation of India will pick the two singles players on the basis of their world rankings by May 16.

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