All posts tagged: Manush Shah

Sreeja Akula lone Indian standing in Yokohama

Sreeja Akula lone Indian standing in Yokohama

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Sreeja Akula was left the lone Indian standing at the 2026 WTT Champions Yokohama in Japan as Manika Batra, Manav Thakkar, and Manush Shah all suffered first round exits. Akula registered her career’s first win in a Champions event, beating Sofia Polcanova of Australia 3-2 in the first round. The Indian paddler lost her opening game 9-11 but fought back to win the next three 11-8, 11-6, 12-10 to register a come-from-behind victory in just over 32 minutes. Later, wildcard entrant Batra lost out 1-11, 7-11, 7-11 with barely any fight against the second seeded Kuai Man of China. In men’s singles, Shah and Thakkar also faced similar fate. While Thakkar went down 2-3 after a hard fought battle against Slovakia’s Darko Jorgic, Shah was blanked 3-0 by France’s sixth seeded Alexis Lebrun, leaving Akula the lone Indian standing in the prestigious tournament. Akula will next face the seventh seeded Shin Yubin of South Korea in the women’s singles round of 16 on Friday. Disclaimer: We do not own any of the content, ideas, images, …

Denied CWG 2026 chance, Indian paddlers seek glory at revived Commonwealth Championships

Denied CWG 2026 chance, Indian paddlers seek glory at revived Commonwealth Championships

Published by Webster

5 min readJul 28, 2026 08:32 PM IST As a truncated Indian contingent vies for glory in Glasgow, India’s table tennis players look on ruefully. The sport is one of nine disciplines, omitted from the 2026 Commonwealth Games (CWG) roster, and has historically enjoyed rich medal hauls at this event – a rarity for it at comparable or larger-scale competitions. To assuage that disappointment, the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships have been revived at Delhi’s Thyagraj Stadium alongside the CWG. Six out of the eight editions have been in India, with the previous one held in Cuttack in 2019. The fact that Commonwealth TT’s chairperson (Vivek Kohli), president (Dushyant Chautala) and secretary general (Mahinder Pal Singh) are all Indians might have something to do with that. The response so far has been lukewarm despite free entry. The Delhi government organised an elaborate opening ceremony, but the crowd mostly comprised school students on mandated excursions and thinned soon after. Matches are being watched by a smattering of students and tournament officials, much like the 2013 edition in …

UTT final: Manush Shah’s masterclass powers U Mumba to back-to-back titles | Sports News

UTT final: Manush Shah’s masterclass powers U Mumba to back-to-back titles | Sports News

Published by Webster

5 min readJul 26, 2026 11:36 PM IST U Mumba TT started the season with heavy defeats to Dempo Goa Challengers (5-10) and Ahmedabad APL Pipers (6-9) and nearly faced three straight losses. Anusha Kutumbale had ensured that did not happen, breaking the streak with a clutch golden point win over Dabang Delhi TTC, then repeated her heroics on Sunday to secure U Mumba’s second consecutive Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) title. At the receiving end were the same Goan team who were undefeated going into the final. They fell prey to Manush Shah’s all-round brilliance on the second evening running, before Kutumbale finished things off calmly. Captain Manush had won the singles and mixed doubles rubbers on Saturday to fashion U Mumba’s semi-final triumph over HVR Kolkata Thunder Blades. He did the same in the final, usurping five of six possible points in the matches he played as the defending champions pipped Goa 8-5 in a tantalising tie. Just like their story in the league phase, U Mumba started the summit clash too with back-to-back …

U Mumba win defend their title

U Mumba win defend their title

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U Mumba TT produced a stirring comeback to end Dempo Goa Challengers’ unbeaten run and successfully defend their Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) crown with an 8-5 victory in a gripping Grand Finale on Sunday. Trailing 4-2 after the opening two matches, the defending champions responded spectacularly. Captain Manush Shah and Anna Hursey ignited the turnaround with a commanding mixed doubles victory before Manush produced a captain’s win against Alvaro Robles. Anusha Kutumbale then held her nerve in a dramatic decider against Syndrela Das to seal the title, handing Goa their first and only defeat of the season. The triumph saw U Mumba draw level with Goa as the competition’s most successful franchise, with two titles each. U Mumba completed a memorable double after also lifting the Dream UTT Juniors title earlier in the month, becoming the first team to do so and capping a remarkable campaign for the franchise. U Mumba TT are your Ultimate Table Tennis 2026 Champions! 🏆 It came down to the wire. Anusha Kutumbale won a Golden Point thriller 11-10 against …

Manush Shah’s decisive singles clinches U Mumba’s spot in UTT final

Manush Shah’s decisive singles clinches U Mumba’s spot in UTT final

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4 min readJul 25, 2026 11:10 PM IST Manush Shah has been flying the Indian flag high in doubles, rising to an unprecedented world number 2 along with Manav Thakkar recently. On Saturday, though, he came up clutch with his singles game to eke out the tie-winning points for U Mumba against a spirited Ankur Bhattacharjee and HVR Kolkata Thunder Blades. Manush, who had set it up by winning his mixed doubles rubber prior to that, hence powered the Mumbai-based franchise into the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) season 7 final. They will defend their title against the unbeaten Dempo Goa Challengers on Sunday. Ankur, dubbed the ‘Conor McGregor of Indian TT’ by commentator Adam Bobrow for his combative style, was not an easy opponent by any means. The 19-year-old had not tasted defeat in the 2025 edition and was one of just four players retained across the six teams, this time around. But Manush, ranked 40th in singles, employed his pedigree and years on the circuit to dismantle Ankur 11-7, 11-5. “Ankur is a strong …

Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah climb to career high world No 2

Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah climb to career high world No 2

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A week after they became the highest ranked Indian table tennis players ever at world No 3, the men’s doubles pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah climbed to a career high world No 2 in the latest ITTF world rankings on Monday. Thakkar and Shah now have 3390 rating points in the world rankings and trail only China’s Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng (5160). Thakkar and Shah’s ascend came after the French pairing of Alexis Lebrun and Felix Lebrun fell down by three spots to world No 5 with 2658 points after the latest rankings update. The Indians are now in an uncharted territory for paddlers from the country with the women’s doubles pair of Archana Kamath and Manika Batra at world No 4 back in 2022 being the highest ranked Indians ever until last week. Thakkar and Shah’s haul of 3390 points majorly comes from their semi-final finish at the 2026 Singapore Smash (900) earlier this year. They had also reached the 2026 US Smash quarters recently, bagging another 580 points while their …

Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah climb to World No 3; highest ranked Indians ever

Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah climb to World No 3; highest ranked Indians ever

Published by Webster

The Indian table tennis men’s doubles pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah climbed to a career high world No 3 rank in the latest ITTF rankings on Monday. Thakkar and Shah gained one spot in the latest rankings to become the highest ranked Indian paddlers ever in the history of the sport. With a total of 3560 points, Thakkar and Shah now only trail China’s Lin Shidong-Huang Youzheng (5510) and France’s Alexis Lebrun-Felix Lebrun (4058) in the rankings. History made in Indian table tennis 🏓🇮🇳 Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar have climbed to a career-high World No. 3 with 3560 points in the latest ITTF Men’s Doubles World Rankings. That makes them the highest-ranked Indian pair ever in the sport’s history. Previously, Manika… pic.twitter.com/IMMbLJg7z3 — The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) July 7, 2026 The duo from Gujarat is now in an uncharted territory in Indian table tennis, surpassing the former women’s doubles duo of Manika Batra and Archana Kamath, who so far held the distinction of being the highest ranked Indians ever at world No 4. …

Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah climb to World No 3; highest ranked Indians ever

Manav-Manush, Diya-Yashaswini bow out in quarterfinals

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India’s top doubles pairs suffered a quarterfinal exit at the 2026 WTT US Smash in Los Angeles on Wednesday, bringing their campaign in the year’s second WTT Grand Smash to an end. In the men’s doubles, the fifth-seeded duo of Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar fell short to Wen Ruibo and Licen Yuan of China 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11. The Indian duo got off to a poor start, being outclassed in the first two games, with the Chinese duo holding a good lead throughout, leaving them with no chance of a comeback. They, however, tried to stretch the match and won the third game 11-8 and had a great start to the fourth game as well, leading 7-2 from the start. But then the Chinese stars showed their class, winning nine of the next ten points to mount a thrilling comeback and knock the Indians out. Later in the day, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Yashaswini Ghorpade and Diya Chitale also exited in the quarterfinals, suffering a straight games defeat. In their first-ever WTT …

Manav-Manush Shah reach quarterfinals; Diya-Yashaswini also advance

Manav-Manush Shah reach quarterfinals; Diya-Yashaswini also advance

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The top Indian men’s doubles pair, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah, advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTT United States Smash 2026 in Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday. The fifth-seeded duo defeated the formidable Japanese pair of Sora Matsushima and Shunsuke Togami 3-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7) to book their place in the last eight. It is their second consecutive WTT Grand Smash quarterfinal appearance this year, following their semifinal run at the Singapore Smash. They will look to match that performance when they face the Chinese pair of Wen Ruibo and Yuan Licen in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Manush, however, could not replicate his success in the mixed doubles, as he and Diya Chitale suffered a round-of-16 defeat to the American pair of Sally Moyland and Jishan Liang. Diya, alongside Yashaswini Ghorpade, fared better in the women’s doubles, defeating the Chinese Taipei pair of Cheng I-Ching and Yeh Yi-Tian in the round of 16. The Indian duo will now face the second-seeded Japanese pair of Hina Hayata and Miwa Harimoto in the quarterfinals, marking …

Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah climb to career high world No 2

Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah win men’s doubles title

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India’s Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah clinched the men’s doubles title at the 2026 WTT Contender in Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday. Thakkar and Shah, the world No 5 pair, took down wildcard entrants Lulian Chrita and Andrei Istrate of Romania 3-0 in the final. Chrita and Istrate were of no match to the top seeded Indians, as they brushed past them 11-7, 12-10, 11-4 in just over 22 minutes. Thakkar and Shah didn’t drop a single game in the tournament, winning all their four matches with a clean 3-0 margin enroute to the title. They started their campaign with a win over qualifiers Abdulbasit-Mathew in the first round, before taking down fellow Indians Mudit Dani and Sanil Shetty in the quarter-final. Thakkar and Shah then beat Nigeria’s fourth seeded Taiwo Mati and Matthew Kuti in the semi-finals to make their way to the title clash. The men’s doubles win also marked a second title win of the week for Shah, who had earlier clinched the mixed doubles title with Diya Chitale. Disclaimer: We do not …