Two Indian doubles pairs jump to career-best World No. 7 in latest table tennis rankings

Manush-Manav and Manush-Diya also set a irst in Indian TT history by reaching the finals.

After runner-up finishes at the WTT Star Contender Brazil, Indian table tennis stars Diya Chitale-Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar-Manush Shah have climbed to a career-best world No. 7 in the latest WTT doubles rankings.

Both Indian pairs—seeded first in the competition—lost their title matches, going down narrowly to settle for second place finish.

While Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar went down against German opponents Benedikt Duda-Dang Qiu 3-11, 11-7, 7-11, 15-13, 5-11 in the men’s doubles final, Diya-Manush lost to Satoshi Aida-Honoka Hashimoto of Japan 4-11, 11-8, 11-5, 5-11, 2-11 in mixed doubles.

For Manush-Diya, their journey to the summit clash witnessed a hard-fought win over Chile’s Gustavo Gomez-Daniela Ortega in the quarter-finals. The Indians also sealed a dominant straight-games victory against Nicolas Burgos and Paulina Vega in the semi-finals.

However, despite the narrow defeat in final, Diya Chitale and Shah made history by becoming the first Indian mixed doubles team to reach the final of a WTT Star Contender event. Their efforts were rewarded with a three-place jump to World No. 7 in the rankings.

Also Read: List of Indian doubles pairs to reach top 10 of table tennis rankings

Meanwhile, Manush Shah had more to celebrate. Teaming up with Manav Thakkar in the men’s doubles, he reached his second final of the tournament.

Unfortunately, the pair fell short in the title match against Germany’s Benedikt Duda and Dang Qiu, but still made history of their own — becoming the first Indian men’s doubles team to reach a WTT Star Contender final.

Their campaign also saw them climb three spots, now sitting at World No. 7 in the men’s doubles rankings.

Speaking to Olympics.com after the tournament, Manush Shah shared his approach and goals for the season. “The goal is simple – to get better than yesterday. Rankings will improve gradually, but our focus is on continuous improvement,” he said.

“We want to reflect on this good tournament, learn from the mistakes we made in the finals, and come back stronger in the next events,” Shah added.

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