UTT 2025: After meteoric rise in world table tennis, Kanak Jha eyes home glory at the LA Olympics

Kanak Jha is an American table tennis player of Indian origin who spends most of the year playing in Germany.

At 29 in the ITTF Rankings and a three-time Olympian, the 25-year-old is already a well-established name on the circuit.

However, his journey hasn’t always been smooth. In March 2023, Jha was handed a 17-month suspension by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). He failed to write +1 next to his U.S. phone number on a form. When the tester tried to reach him, the call didn’t go through and he ended up missing three drug tests.

In an exclusive interview with Sportstar on the sidelines of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 6 in Ahmedabad where he has led the Jaipur Patriots to the final, Jha talks about his table tennis journey, that period of being away from the sport for 17 months and more. Excerpts:

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Who do you recognise yourself as? Should you be identified as an Indo-American or a European?

At this point, 25 years old, I’m pretty global. My parents are from India and they migrated to USA. I definitely feel a strong sense of Indian heritage and culture. I grew up in the USA, eating Indian food, surrounded by many family and friends from India. 

I moved to Sweden when I was 15 and then, I’ve been living in Germany. I’ve lived in Europe now for many years. So, you could say a little bit of everything. 

Table Tennis is not amongst the popular sports in the US. How did you pick it up?

Yes, it’s not a mainstream sport in the USA. Actually, I grew up playing soccer. That was the first sport I played. I started when I was two years old. 

It was quite fortunate how I started table tennis. Prachi, my sister who is three years older than me, started to play the sport with my parents in a local community center. I was five years old at the time. My parents couldn’t leave me at home, so I would go there and watch them play. 

I got bored very fast while just watching and picked up a racket. Like many younger siblings, I was heavily influenced by my older sibling. 

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When you were 13, at the US Nationals, you ended up playing in every category and lost just one match. Can you recall that experience?

Going into the event, my main focus was the cadets (under-15) and the juniors (under-18). I just went on a crazy streak. I won under 21s, the juniors and the cadets. I think I won some doubles as well. 

I went to the semifinals in the senior category where I ended up losing 4-3 to the top seed. It was a huge breakthrough.I was so young and didn’t overthink it much. But that’s really when people in the USA and perhaps, the world, said that “this guy’s a huge talent.”

What was the biggest change for you in terms of adapting when you moved from the US to Europe at 15? 

When I was a kid in the US, my parents would take me directly from school to table tennis training, where I had private lessons with my coach. where I practised table tennis and had private lessons with my coach. I probably trained for a few hours and then headed back home for dinner and homework and that would be the routine every day.

When I had the chance to move to Sweden, it was like a dream come true in my mind because I could play this sport every day with other professional players.

But it was a bit of a shock. It was my first time living abroad and I realised there’s more to life than just table tennis. You live doing things on your own. I did miss home quite a lot during that first year but my love for this sport was so great that it always made the decision easy for me in the end. 

It happens with a lot of child prodigies that you end up not having a life beyond the sport. Have you made a conscious effort to strike a balance between the sport and everything else?

That saying is quite accurate for a lot of players. We’re spending so many hours in the hall.

When I was younger, I didn’t go to many social events with other kids because I’d always be at training. Since I moved to Sweden, life has been centered around table tennis, with at least six to seven hours going into practice. It’s either that or travelling the world to compete. I am home for barely a month in a year. You have to sacrifice a fair bit to be the best you can be at a sport.

But, it can hinder your development as a person. Sometimes, people just know the sport and it can be tough when the sport’s not going well because that’s all you have.

I went through a phase where for 17 months, I didn’t play the sport. I’ve been quite fortunate in my life to always have good people around me who have taken care of me. My parents and coaches have made sure that I’m also developing as a human being.

What did those 17 months of suspension look like for you?

Before my suspension, I was actually at an all-time high. I just entered the top 20 in the world. So, in the beginning, it was very tough because everything was going my way. I was in a good space and it all got taken away in an instant. For the first three months, I didn’t touch the racket. I just wanted to be away from the sport.

I eventually enjoyed the time off. I got to work on myself outside the table. It was positive in many ways and that’s why I came back as well as I did.

Table tennis isn’t one of the more lucrative sports in the US. How tough has it been for you to sustain in that regard? 

In the USA, it’s pretty much impossible to be a professional table tennis player. To earn a respectable living, you have to move abroad. 

Financially, I went 17 months without a paycheck. Table tennis is a very top-heavy sport. When you see the Paris Games, we have players from every part of the world. So, the competition is extremely high but if you can reach the top, that’s where generally the money is more for the players. 

How different is this UTT setup and format as compared to some of the more established and other leagues, especially in Germany, where you have been playing for a long time? 

The league takes a fresh look at the sport. Compared to the German Bundesliga where I’ve played for many years now, in terms of the excitement, they do a really great job in UTT. 

Every game counts and it is a best-of-three format. It’s women and men together. So, even before coming here, just following the league online, I found the system quite exciting. They do a great job of building the atmosphere and the hall with the music and the presentation. The final product is really great for spectators.

For everybody, it takes a little time to adapt while playing for the first time. There are small changes in the system, especially the time between points. Of course, there’s a golden point at 10-10. It took me one or two sets to adapt to UTT but now, I feel quite good.

At 25, you have played in three Olympics and are settled as a professional. To take that next big leap, what is it that you have your eyes set on and how do you keep yourself motivated considering you’re just 25 right now? 

My goals have changed through the years. When I first started, I wanted to be one of the top players in the USA. At 13, I already became that and joined the men’s team. 

I want to be one of the top juniors in the world and in 2018, I achieved that and also got a bronze medal at the Youth Olympics. I wanted to be in the top 100 and broke into it in 2018.

My main focus is the big events – World Championships and Olympics. These events can change your life in many ways. This is stuff people remember you by. The next Olympic Games is in Los Angeles, my home state. So, that’s what I have my eyes on at the moment.