by Simon Daish

Occupying 90th position in January’s world rankings table, rising 110 places from the previous month, Kanak Jha is delighted to have achieved one of his major goals and is more determined than ever to keep working at his game.

“I am extremely happy with my new ranking, it’s been my dream since I was very young to be in the top 100 in the world. I think the new system has definitely helped my ranking a lot. This gives me motivation to keep training hard and hopefully keep improving.” Kanak Jha.

2017 proved to be another successful year for the 17-year-old USA star with three gold medals at the 2017 Pan American Junior Championships and a magnificent title winning display at the 2017 ITTF-Pan American Games just two of the standout moments for Jha.

Jha also turned in an impressive outing at the Liebherr 2017 ITTF Men’s World Cup, taking both Korea Republic’s Lee Sangsu and Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna to seven games in Liège and concluded the year in style by sealing his spot at the upcoming Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

While a new personal best ranking position comes as welcome news, Jha is very much focused on continuing his development and has his sights set on more competition exposure in 2018.

“There is not much change with my planning in terms of the new system. I will continue to play many tournaments. I think it’s important to not overthink about ranking because it can affect you negatively when you do this.” Kanak Jha.

Source: USA Table Tennis