Manush Shah-Diya Chitale Create History; Become First Indian Mixed Doubles Pair To Reach WTT Grand Smash Semifinals

In Table Tennis, Indian paddlers Manush Shah and Diya Chitale created history by becoming the first Indian mixed doubles pair to reach the semifinals of a WTT Grand Smash after beating Romania’s Eduard Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs 3-0 at the China Smash in Beijing yesterday.

The fifth-seeded Indian duo won the quarterfinal 11-9, 13-11, 11-3 to secure a place in the last four.

However, Manav Thakkar exited the men’s singles in the round of 32 after losing 0-3 to seventh seed Alexis Lebrun of France.

In women’s doubles, Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghorpade suffered a narrow 2-3 defeat to China’s Gao Yuxin and Xiang Junlin in the round of 16.