India's No 1 paddler A Sharath Kamal, who was ranked 101 before notching up his maiden appearance in the final of an ITTF Pro-Tour meet when he lost to Singapore’s Gao Ning in Delhi Sunday, will move into the world top-100 when the rankings are released on March 1.

“Last January I was ranked 175 in the world. I must say I didn’t expect to crack the top-100 so soon. Once you are in the top-200, moving upwards is very difficult. I’m very happy with the way I’ve been playing. I made the semi-finals in the Brazil Open last year and created upsets here and there,” Kamal told The Indian Express from Chennai.

Kamal will leave for Spain tonight to play the league there. The paddler who still has to serve four months of his nine-month contract with a Spanish club said the training has helped improve his game a lot.

“Earlier I was more a forehand player. But now I’ve developed a very neat backhand as well. Players now fear me because I can play on both flanks. However, I need to work on my fitness to match the Asians,” said Kamal.