Kanak Jha (born June 19, 2000) is an American

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player of Indian descent. He is a two-time Olympian (2016 and 2020) and was the US national champion 4 times, winning the national title between 2016 and 2019 for a record four straight national titles.

Career

2016

Jha competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in the men's singles event and as part of the American team in the men's team event. He was the youngest American athlete to participate in the 2016 Olympics and is also the first American born in the 2000s to qualify for the Olympics.

2018

Jha also competed at the

2018 Summer Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud de 2018), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international sports, cultural, and educational event held ...

in the boy's event, in which he won a bronze medal. 2018 was somewhat of a breakout year for Jha, as he defeated several notable top players including

Wong Chun Ting Wong Chun-ting (; born 7 September 1991) is a Hong Kong table tennis player. He won his first doubles title on the ITTF World Tour in 2012 and won another three doubles titles in 2014. In 2015, he won a bronze medal in mixed doubles event with ...

, Quadri Aruna,

An Jaehyun An Jae-hyun (, born 25 December 1999) is a South Korean table tennis player. Career He won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships. 2021 An Jaehyun failed to qualify for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics despite tying for the be ...

, and

Lin Yun-Ju Lin Yun-Ju ( born 17 August 2001) is a Taiwanese table tennis player.

2019

Jha won his 4th straight US National title in 2019. Jha pulled off a bronze medal at the

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2019, links=no), officially the XVIII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Lima 2019 Pan-Am Games or Lima 2019 ( qu, Limaq 2019), were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Spo ...

in mixed doubles and singles. In the 2019 World Team Cup, Jha defeated Anton Källberg and

Kristian Karlsson Kristian Gunnar Karlsson (; born 6 August 1991) is a Swedish professional table tennis player. Career Born in Trollhättan, Västra Götaland, Karlsson started to play table tennis in his hometown club at the age of 8. He remained in Trollhätt ...

to lead the US past Sweden out of the group stage.

2020

Notable international wins for Jha in early 2020 include Uda Yukiya and Zhou Qihao. After the pandemic, Jha played in the 2020 World Cup, in which he lost in seven games to

Liam Pitchford Liam Benjamin Pitchford (born 12 July 1993) is a British table tennis player. He is sponsored by Victas. Career Pitchford began playing table tennis when he was eight years old. He won the British Home Countries Championship in 2009, and two Co ...

and deuce in the seventh to

Chuang Chih-yuan Chuang Chih-yuan (; born 2 April 1981) is a Taiwanese table tennis player. He won the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals in 2002 and doubles title at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships. He participated in the Summer Olympics five times, making t ...

, his favorite player growing up. In mid-2020, Jha signed with the German Bundesliga team in Ochsenhausen.

2021

Jha was selected to represent the United States at the Tokyo Olympics in the men's singles and team event. He spent a large amount of his final days training in the United States with his Olympic teammate at the new 888 Table Tennis Center, a club for which he is an ambassador. Jha chose not to defend his US national title in July, opting instead to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics. At the Tokyo Olympics, Jha lost 4-2 to Russia’s Kirill Skachkov in the round of 64. Team USA lost to Sweden in the first round of the team event, with Jha scoring USA's lone victory over

Mattias Falck Mattias Falck (; né Karlsson) (born 7 September 1991) is a Swedish table tennis player. Career He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics as part of the Swedish team in the men's team event. Mattias won two medals at the 2016 European Table Tenni ...

References

2000 births Living people American male table tennis players Olympic table tennis players for the United States Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Table tennis players at the 2019 Pan American Games Table tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in table tennis Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Table tennis players at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games American sportspeople of Indian descent 21st-century American people {{US-tabletennis-bio-stub