Country: USA
Place of Birth: Milpitas, California
Date of Birth: June 19, 2000
Playing Style: Shakehand, Offensive, Right-handed
Table of Contents
Biography
Kanak Jha is an American professional table tennis player who has represented the USA in the Olympics in 2016, 2020, and 2024. He is a five-time U.S. national champion, winning the title in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2024. At just 16 years old, he was the youngest American among all athletes that represented the USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Kanak Jha is the son of Indian immigrants who worked in tech companies. His father, Arun Jha, worked at Oracle, while his mother, Karuna Jha, worked at Sun Microsystems. Jha started playing table tennis in his family’s garage when he was only 5 years old. His mother played with him because nobody else wanted to, as his height was still below the table. His sister Prachi Jha also plays table tennis.
Kanak Jha has won 3 senior titles , 1 WTT and 2 ITTF.
Social Media
Kanak Jha has verified accounts in Facebook ( @KanakJhaOfficial ) and Instagram ( @jhakanak ) .
Sponsorship
Kanak Jha is sponsored by Butterfly .
Teammates
Kanak Jha teammates at the 2024 Paris Olympics:
Rachel Sung
Lily Zhang
Amy Wang
Playing Style
Kanak Jha is a right-handed shakehand-grip offensive player. He is a two-winged player and has a high toss serve.
Equipment
Kanak Jha uses butterfly equipments. You can check full details of his equipments here.
World Ranking
Kanak Jha has a world ranking of #22 as of December 21, 2025.
Highest World Ranking
Kanak Jha achieved his highest world ranking of #19 on December 16, 2025.
World Titles
Visit here to check all Kanak Jha’s all three world titles.
Best Performances
World Table Tennis (WTT) Competitions:
WTT Champions Yokohama 2025 – Semifinals (350 points)
Singapore Smash 2025 – Round 16 (175 points)
ITTF Competitions:
ITTF Pan American Championships 2025 Rock Hill – Finalist (350 points)
National Competitions:
2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, & 2024 US National Champion
Most Notable Win
At the ITTF Pan American Cup San Francisco 2025 , Kanak Jha defeated Eugene Wang to win the title. Jha has defeated top 5 ranked players. At WTT Champions Montpellier 2025 , he defeated world #3 Hugo Calderano 3-2 in Round of 32. At Singapore Smash 2025, he beat world #5 Truls Moregardh 3-2.
