(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT)
As 2024 is coming to a close, here’s a quick review of the ITTF Boys’ Singles and Girls’ Singles youth rankings by category. The top players in U19 Boys should be familiar to all table tennis fans as China’s Lin Shidong and France’s Felix Lebrun are first and second among the World’s Juniors (and 2nd and 4th on the Men’s list). Nandan Naresh is the top American Junior on this list – and he is World No. 36, just ahead of Puerto Rican players Steven Moreno No. 44 and Enrique Rios (No. 63).
Those same two Puerto Rican players are about 20 slots higher in the U17 Boys with Moreno at 26 and Rios at 35. The top American in U17 is Darryl Tsao at No. 105. In Boys’ Singles U15, Puerto Rico’s two young stars figure most prominently with Moreno at No. 5 and Rios at No. 9. USA’s Tanish Pendse joins the list at No. 49. Both USA and Puerto Rico have several players in the Top 100 of the Boys’ U13 as well: Puerto Rico’s Matthew Cao (No. 15), USA’s Jaden Jia (No. 54), USA’s Joshua Joseph (No. 55), USA’s Chirag Pradhan (No. 78), and Puerto Rico’s Owen Shemesh (No. 82). And in U11, USA has seven different players in the Top 100: Chirag Pradhan (No. 12), Aarav Desai (No. 23), Saivaishnav Senthilkumar (No. 36), Ethan Zhou (No. 65), Conroy Li (No. 73), Ewan Zhang (No. 74), and Vihaan Taneja (No. 93).
Like the men, the top U19 Girls’ Singles players are familiar names on the Senior Circuit as well – Japan’s Miwa Harimoto and Egypt’s Hana Goda lead the way. USA’s Sally Moyland is No. 58, and a pair of Puerto Rican players are also in the Top 100 (Edmarie Leon at No. 73 and Brianna Burgos at No. 98). In U17, USA’s top player is Mandy Yu at No. 98 and Puerto Rico has Valentina Davila at No. 88. Both Davila and Yu jump up the ranks significantly in U15 where Davila is No. 35 and Yu is No. 39. Tashiya Piyadasa (No. 62), and Amoolya Menon (No. 72) also make the Top 100 list in Girls’ U15. In Girls’ U13, TeamUSA has three players in the Top 30: Irene Yeoh (No. 20), Abigail Yu (No. 23), and Isabella Joseph (No. 27). And one of USA’s highest results is Isabella Joseph in Girls U11 who is No. 3. Shreya Venkateraman (No. 52), Holly Huang (No. 59), Ella Zhou (No. 65), Eliana Chan (No. 78), and Tanisha Balamurugan (No. 79) add to America’s strong showing in the U11 category.
Check out the complete ITTF Youth Rankings on the ITTF site here: Youth Rankings
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