Sreeja Akula achieved the highest ranking for an Indian paddler at world No. 22 in the women’s singles following an impressive campaign at the ongoing Paris Olympics.

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Rankings were updated on Tuesday.

Akula blanked Sweden’s then world-ranked 58 Christina Kallberg of Sweden 4-0 in the round of 64 before getting the better of 52nd-ranked Zeng Jian of Singapore in the round of 32 with a scoreline of 4-2.

Akula and Manika Batra became the first table tennis players from the country to reach the round of 16 at the Olympics in individual events. However, Akula lost 4-0 to world No. 1 Yingsha Sun of the People’s Republic of China in the round of 16.

Akula climbed up three places from her previous ranking while Batra also rose three places to rank 25th. Akula’s previous career-best was world No. 24 she achieved after winning the WTT Contender Lagos in June.

Sreeja and Manika are the only Indian table tennis players to have made it to the top 25 in women's singles rankings. Tokyo Olympian Sutirtha Mukherjee is the next-best Indian women’s singles player ranked at world No. 84.

However, Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee are India’s top pair in women’s doubles at world No. 17.