All posts tagged: Manav Thakkar Table Tennis

French Lebrun brothers defeat India’s Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah 3-2 in Battle of All-Bespectacled at Singapore Smash | Sport-others News

French Lebrun brothers defeat India’s Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah 3-2 in Battle of All-Bespectacled at Singapore Smash | Sport-others News

2 min readFeb 27, 2026 01:59 PM IST India’s first Singapore Smash semifinalists Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah had to contend with a Last 4 exit as they went down 6-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 8-11 to French paddler pair Felix and Alexis Lebrun. It was a Battle of the All-Bespectacled at the Infinity Arena at The Kallang, as the venue is called. The Indians were the first ever to make semis of a Smash from the country. After the two combines went 2 games apiece, Thakkar-Shah had done well to go on a 4 point spree to lead 5-3, but the French took off thereafter, attacking Manav and Manush’s serve with careful acceleration. The Lebruns, starting from their singles losses, took off at 8-7, and raced into the final. Earlier, the Indian left-right combo had done well to push a decider, playing a confident fourth game, and holding off the French, moving up from the crucial 7-7 deadlock. The third game too was very tight, and perhaps more winnable as the Indians kept snapping at …

Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah become first Indians to reach doubles semis at Singapore Smash | Sport-others News

Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah become first Indians to reach doubles semis at Singapore Smash | Sport-others News

2 min readFeb 26, 2026 10:20 AM IST India’s top TT stars Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah may not have made great headway in singles at the Singapore Smash, but they combined to enter the semifinals of the year’s second Major, with a 3-0 win over Germans Martin Allegro and Adrien Rassenfose. The Smash series is table tennis’ top tier on the circuit, and the Indians did well to defeat the Germans 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 to reach the semifinals. Thakkar and Shah are the first Indian pair to have reached the semifinals of a WTT Grand Smash since its inception. An early stutter in the second game saw the Double Ms, seeded 6th at Singapore, fall back 2-5, but they quickly went on a counter, attacking the German serves with swift returns for 5 consecutive points, to win it 11-9. In Game 3, Indians took a 4-0 lead and ran with it. This is a crucial year for India’s peddlers, bound for the Asian Games, where at the last edition, India notched a bronze through …

Table tennis: Manav Thakkar’s fine run ends in semifinals at the WTT Star Contender Chennai | Sport-others News

Table tennis: Manav Thakkar’s fine run ends in semifinals at the WTT Star Contender Chennai | Sport-others News

Manav Thakkar’s memorable performance at the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025 ended with a hard-fought 3-1 semifinal loss against World No. 54 Thibault Poret on Sunday. The 24-year-old lost 12-10, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7 against his French opponent. Having become the first Indian male player to reach the semifinal stages of a WTT Star Contender event just a day earlier, Manav delivered a spirited performance at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, pushing the 20-year-old Frenchman in a thrilling, high-intensity contest. Despite narrowly missing out in the first two games, Manav rallied to claim the third, igniting the home crowd. Poret’s exceptional defensive display throughout ultimately proved decisive. In the quarterfinals on Saturday, Manav had registered a stunning win to claw back from the jaws of defeat. Up against 16th seed Lim Jong-hoon from Korea, Manav prevailed 5-11, 12-10, 3-11, 11-6, 11-1. At one stage, he was trailing by 2 games to 1, and down 2-6 in the fourth. He went on to win 9 straight points first to close out the fourth game, and then won …

Table tennis: On the day Sharath Kamal bows out, young Manav Thakkar creates a slice of history for Indian TT with stunning win | Sport-others News

Table tennis: On the day Sharath Kamal bows out, young Manav Thakkar creates a slice of history for Indian TT with stunning win | Sport-others News

In a moment of poetic symmetry, on the day 42-year-old legend Achanta Sharath Kamal bid farewell to international table tennis at the WTT Star Contender in Chennai, 24-year-old Manav Thakkar stepped up to carve his name into the history books. The youngster became the first Indian men’s player to reach the semifinals of a WTT Star Contender event, achieving the best-ever result by an Indian in any World Table Tennis tournament tier. And it was a stunning victory, too. Facing World No. 43 Lim Jonghoon in the quarterfinals, Manav found himself on the brink of elimination, trailing 1-2 in the match and 2-6 in the fourth game. What followed was nothing short of extraordinary. In a blistering turnaround, the Surat lad rattled off 18 straight points, clinching the fourth game 11-6 and storming to a jaw-dropping 9-0 lead in Game 5 before winning it 11-1. As Sharath bowed out earlier in the day, losing his Round of 16 match 0-3 (9-11, 8-11, 9-11) to 24-year-old Snehit Suravajjula — one of the many Indian paddlers who …

Asian Table Tennis Championships: Manav Thakkar reaps rewards of attacking early and improving fitness | Sport-others News

Asian Table Tennis Championships: Manav Thakkar reaps rewards of attacking early and improving fitness | Sport-others News

A minor tweak in his attacking game combined with an innovative fitness plan contributed hugely to India’s Manav Thakkar getting his first-ever win over a top-15 player. Manav, 24, stunned World No.14 Jang Woojin 3-2 (5-11,11-9,5-11,11-9,11-7) in their men’s singles Rd of 32 clash at the Asian Table Tennis Championships on Saturday. Though he then lost his Rd of 16 clash to Hong Kong teen sensation Baldwin Chan in straight games, his win over Woojin showed that while the Indian men need to be a lot more consistent, they have what it takes to beat the best in the world. In a stunning display of backhand attack, Manav chose to step up to the table rather than wait back to absorb his opponent’s attacks. He didn’t allow Woojin to settle into the match after the Korean took the first game 5-11. Though he looked a bit nervy in the opening game he came back in stunning fashion to take the second 11-9. The Korean, who reached the semifinal of the Saudi Smash, bounced back to …