ITTF World C'ships: Diya-Yashaswini reach R16; Manav-Manush exit – Highlights
Sutirtha & Ayhika next in action
India's Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee stride out for their women's doubles Round of 32 match.
They go up against the German pair of Annett Kaufmann and Xiaona Shan.
Lebrun calls the match "strange"
"The match was a little bit strange because the rhythm of the match with service fault and TTR. But I am happy to have managed it like this," quips Lebrun.
Manush Shah EXITS!
Manush Shah bows out of the men's singles in the second round. He loses 5-11, 6-11, 6-11, 9-11 in straight games against a much higher ranked opponent.
Shah is still in contention in men's doubles along with Manav Thakkar and will be in action once again later in the day.
Some advice from Massimo Costantini
Manush trails 2-3 in the fourth game and coach Massimo Costantini has some advice for him in the time out.
"Stay cool," she quips to his ward.
Manush states he is unable to spot the ball in the conversation with the coach. Constantini tells him he is looking at a mirror image and advices to stay closer to the table.
Lebrun is running away with the match
Manush Shah has no concrete answers to the questions posed by Felix Lebrun.
The French paddler, a double Olympic medallist from the 2024 Paris Games, has raced to take the third game 11-6 and open up a 3-0 lead.
Manush is staring at a straight-games loss here.
Manush loses his final challenge
Manush Shah calls for his second challenge in the third game.
This time, he argues, Felix Lebrun blocked his vision during the serve. The TTR is deployed again and the referee deems that the ball wasn't hidden.
Manush loses his second and final challenge of the match. The Indian has a smile on his face.
Manush loses second game
After all that drama, Manush concedes the second game 6-11.
Much better from the Indian this time around, but he lost the early momentum after the "hidden" incident.
What is "hidden" in table tennis?
Hidden, in table tennis, means the act of the paddler serving obstructing the opponent's vision when the ball makes contact with the racket during the serve.
This makes it difficult for the opponent to understand what kind of spin the serving paddler is imparting on the ball, putting him in a disadvantage.
The server can't block the opponent's vision in any manner and the referee rightly caught Manush.
Some nice drama
Manush Shah is 2-0 up in the second game, when the referee calls his serve "hidden."
The Indian is not impressed and there's a exchange of words with the referee before he asks for a review. Some calm words exchanged with Lebrun as well.
The review shows that the ball was blocked by Manush's head when the ball made contact with the racket during the serve. It was indeed "hidden" from the vision of Lebrun.
Manush loses a challenge. He has one challenge left!
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