Table tennis phenoms Kanak Jha (pictured right) and
Manav Thakkar (pictured left) will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
in October, hoping to outplay each
other and win gold at the 2018 Youth Olympic
Games.
Jha, 17, who’s currently the top-ranked
junior player in the world, qualified for the
games in December, winning the North
American Youth Olympic Games Qualification
as he topped a field of 16 competitors,
8 boys from the United States and 8 from
Canada.
Thakkar, ranked No. 2 in the world,
qualified on May 8 when he defeated Singapore’s
Shao Josh Chua in the final of a qualifying
tournament in Bangkok, Thailand. “A
big monkey off my back,” said Thakkar, 18,
who had failed to qualify in two previous
attempts.
Jha and Thakkar faced each other in
the final of International Table Tennis Federation
(ITTF) World Junior Circuit Finals
on Feb. 5 at Luxembourg, with Jha winning
in seven games (9-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6, 11-3,
9-11, 11-6). Another chapter in this budding
rivalry could come in October.