Jha booked his place at Rio 2016 after success at the North American trials in Toronto, when at 15-years-old, he defeated his compatriot Timothy Wang to secure a singles berth.

The teenager, who turned 16 last month, has now added the national title to his list of achievements after battling to victory at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

He found himself trailing defending champion Yijun Feng in the early stages of the contest, with the top seed having won the first two games.

Despite getting off the mark in the following game, Jha lost the fourth and was then forced to save a match point in the fifth game of the contest.

It proved a key moment in the tie as the 16-year-old then produced a stunning turnaround to eventually emerge as a 10-12, 6-11, 12-10, 5-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-9 winner.

He became the youngest man to win the title since Michael Landers, who triumphed when aged just 15 back in 2009.

“I still can’t believe it, I thought the match was over,” said Jha, who will become the youngest male table tennis player in Olympic history next month and is the first American Olympian to be born in the 2000s.

“In the beginning I had a lot of trouble with his service and as the match went on I started hitting my forehand better.”

Lily Zhang held off a fightback from her Olympic team-mate and defending champion Jiaqi Zheng to earn the women’s title for the third time in her career.

Zhang held a three game lead after a blistering start to the tie but then saw her advantage cut to just one game.

The third seed was then able to regain control of the contest to seal a 14-12, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 5-11, 11-6 victory.